NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee has recorded its concern over reduction in budgetary allocation for the drinking water and sanitation ministry, which has been entrusted with execution of 'Swachh Bharat Mission' (SBM) and providing safe drinking water in rural areas.
The allocation for 2015-16 is Rs 5,236 crore, which is Rs 12,100 crore less than the revised estimates of last financial year. The panel said the reduction would have an adverse impact on the two schemes.
However, the reduction in central allocation is not unique only to this ministry. This is because states can now spend more from the extra resources that have been made available from the Centre as per the 14th finance commission recommendations. The government has maintained that there is no cut in allocation for any scheme as share of states in Central taxes has increased to 42% from 32%.
"Funding will not be an issue in implementing the schemes. Because of higher devolution of finances to state governments, we expect about Rs 2 lakh crore would go to panchayats across the country. Even the smallest panchayat would get about Rs 17 lakh in the next five years. This fund can be utilized for these schemes," drinking water and sanitation minister Chaudhry Birender Singh said in response to a question on the standing committee report which was submitted in Lok Sabha on Monday.
The government has set the target of achieving complete sanitation by October 2019.
On the SBM in rural areas, the panel has observed that the total fund requirement under this scheme is estimated at Rs 1,34,386 crore, out of which the Central share is Rs 1,00,447 crore. The resources for this mission are proposed to be made available through budgetary allocation, contribution to Swachh Bharat Kosh, commitments under corporate social responsibility and through 2% cess on services.
However, the committee found the budgetary allocation of Rs 2,655 crore for sanitation programme (SBM) against the requirement of Rs 12,500 crore to build one crore toilets during this fiscal year is inadequate. "Further, there is also lack of clarity on the funding pattern of the mission as presently the Centre-state share is in the ratio of 75:25 but in the current scenario, it is stated that they yet to finalize the funding pattern," the report said. The panel has also observed that there is no clarity on the guidelines of Swachh Bharat Kosh.
The committee has recommended the ministry to approach the Niti Ayog and finance ministry with apt justifications to ensure allocation of additional funds for the current financial year so that future development plans are not hampered.
The panel has also observed that while 14.08 lakh individual household toilets (IHHL) and 633 sanitary complexes were constructed during 2014-15, the physical achievement during the previous year was higher. During 2013-14, 49.7 lakh IHHLs and 1,516 sanitary complexes were constructed.
"The various factors affecting the achievement of targets were stated to be relating to fund availability, lower prioritization of the programme by state governments, inadequate implementation structures, inadequate capacity at grass root level, lack of behavioural change and poor demand generation," the report said.
The ministry has submitted that since the rural sanitation scheme was revamped in last October, the progress has been picking up and it is hopeful of achieving the target
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