From Ranvijay Kumar, Nidan, Patna
Posted 21 October 2010
I work with a Patna-based NGO called Nidan on Urban Water and Sanitation issues. We operate in 10 slums in Patna. According to the Census of 2001, the population of Patna Urban Agglomeration Area (PUAA), spread over nearly 135.79 sq. km., amounts to approximately 16.97 lakh people, of which 63.5 per cent resides in slums. Nearly 46 per cent of land occupied by slums belongs to the government. The civic services provided to them are very poor; housing is congested, there is little or no drainage and a lack of public lavatories, forcing them to defecate in the open. They have little access to government health services and depend on private practitioners. More than half of these slums depend on the piped water supply of the Municipal Corporation and the rest use groundwater (tube wells, handpumps and dug wells).
Bihar has suffered a drought this year and the water tables have been falling. The Patna Jal Board and Municipal Corporations have been unable to supply slums with enough water. This and the existing lack of sanitation have placed the slum population at greater risk. Water shortages have forced people to use contaminated water, resulting in a high incidence of water-borne diseases.
We have started an “Integrated Water and Sanitation Programme in slums of Patna” project supported by WaterAid. The objective is to alleviate the conditions in slums with regard to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities (WASH). We have created a model of Water and Sanitation management in slums run by local communities. We are taking up WATSAN issues with policy makers through different advocacy programmes. We are also institutionalizing the process through capacity building of slum water and sanitation committees. So far, we have provided 1,850 people with sustainable water supply and 696 people with sanitation facilities.
We now need an urban water sanitation policy to take this process to scale. For this, we have set up an Urban Civil Society Forum that is working towards drafting a comprehensive and effective Urban Water and Sanitation policy in Bihar.
We request your inputs for this policy as follows:
- What urban water and sanitation policies exist at the state level (apart from the national policy)?
- Are there any examples of how people from slums can be part of the planning, execution and monitoring process?
- What are the main points of action under these policies and challenges in implementing them?
Your inputs will help us make a suitable policy for Bihar.
Please see attachment below for the responses.