The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs recently released a ranking of states under the AMRUT scheme. Odisha has secured the first position by scoring 85.67%.

Highlights

AMRUT is Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation Scheme. The scheme aims to provide piped water supply to households in urban areas of the state. It also aims at construction of sewerage treatment plants and improving green spaces in the cities.

So far, under the scheme, 148 projects have been completed out of 191 projects. The rest are to be completed within the mission period of March 2021. This year, Odisha has topped the ranking followed by Chandigarh, Telangana, Gujarat and Karnataka in the implementation of the scheme.

Odisha

Nine cities of Odisha namely Bhubaneshwar, Sambalpur, Cuttack, Rourkela, Bhadrak, Balasore, Baripada, Berhampur and Puri were covered under the scheme. Around 2,400 kilo metres of pipeline laying has been completed in the state till date.

AMRUT Scheme

The mission was launched in 2015 by PM Modi. It was extended by 2 years in December 2019. The mission mainly focuses on the following

• Water Supply
• Storm Water Drainage to reduce flooding
• Sewerage and Septage Management
• Green spaces in the cities
• Non-motorised Urban Transport

Under the scheme, the states prepared their own State Annual Action Plans. The states will transfer funds to urban local bodies to implement the scheme. The fund transfer has to be done within seven days of transfer by central government.

Cities covered under the scheme

Around 500 cities were selected under the scheme. All the cities and towns that have population more than 1 lakh according to the census 2011 are included in the scheme. The capital cities of states and Union Territories are not covered. The cities that are classified as Heritage cities by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under HRIDAY scheme are also included in the scheme.

HRIDAY Scheme

HRIDAY is National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana and was launched under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It was launched to preserve and revitalize rich cultural heritage of India.