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UMC, 3rd Floor, AUDA Building, Usmanpura, Ahmedabad-380 014Telefax: 079-27546403/5303/1599 Email: info@umcasia.org URL: www.umcasia.org

Editorial

It gives me immense pleasure to present before you the fourth issue of Jaldarshan. In the last issue, we talked about the water supply scenario in Gujarat and discussed the feasibility of 24x7 water supply to the residents. In the month of

June, UMC arranged a study tour for officials of four urban local bodies of Gujarat to Malkapur Municipal Council of Maharashtra state. This town has successfully implemented 100 percent metering along with continuous water supply. You may read about this initiative in ‘UMC Corner’ in this issue.

This time we focus on sanitation, another area under tremendous pressure due to rapid urbanization. The main story discusses the National Urban Sanitation Policy launched by the government of India in 2008. An overview of the recent analysis of the sanitation data of 2008-09 compiled under Performance Assessment System (PAS) project also points to the need for pushing the agenda of sanitation in the state. The PAS project is designed to effect improvement at the local govern-ment level. Data of water and sanitation sectors in all the 166 Urban Local Bodies of Gujarat have been collected for last three years. The project is now ready to move to its next phase i.e. performance improvement. A few cities have been selected for improvement under PAS. Our technical teams will provide handholding support to these cities in bettering service delivery. This program will also provide assistance to cities to plan their finances so as to sustain and undertake O&M of the infrastructural improvements.

Manvita Baradi Director, UMC

Issue 4. August 2011(For private circulation only)

In this Issue Towards a cleaner India:

Case Studies: Open Defecation-free Trichi City, Public Toilets in Sangli Miraj Kupwad

PAS Highlights: Moving from Measurement

to Improvement

Tete-a-tete: Tilak Shastri

Leading Practices: An integrated solution for

Solid Waste Management: Rajkot Municipal Corporation

UMC corner: Study tour to 24x7 initiative

of Malkapur city, Maharashtra

Film Review: Kagda Peeth

Useful Websites

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National Urban Sanitation PolicyThe Government of India launched its National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) in 2008. NUSP defines the vision for urban sanitation in India as having all cities and towns totally sanitized, healthy and livable where local bodies

ensure and sustain good public health and environmental outcomes for all their citizens with special focus on hygienic and affordable sanitation facilities for the urban poor and women.

As per NUSP, a ‘totally sanitized city’ must be open defecation-free and should have eliminated manual scaven-ging. It should provide adequate

personnel protection equipment for safety of sanitation workers. Besides, municipal waste water and storm water drainage must be safely managed. Waste water should be recycled, treated and reused for non-potable applications wherever possible. Solid waste should be collected and disposed of completely and safely. Basic services should be provided to the poor and the results should be sustained. Public health has to be good and environmental standards must be maintained. Source: http://urbanindia.nic.in/programme/uwss/slb/SubNUSP.htm

There’s Hope… According to the HPEC report in 2011, about 18 percent of urban households do not have access to any form of latrine facilities and defecate in the open. Tiruchirapalli (Trichy), a temple town in Tamil Nadu with a population of 8.21 lakh (2009) has proved that improvement in public service delivery can be brought about by communities with help from the local government.

Till the end of 1990s, the sanitation scenario of the city was no different from the rest of the country. Tiruchirapalli City Corporation (TCC), assisted by NGO Gramalaya and other civil society organizations, started focused interventions by collectivizing women, setting systems, constructing toilets and creating awareness among its users. In 2002, India got its first 100

A sanitation worker removes silt and solid waste from an open drain in Vankarvaas slum in Bavla.

Open defecation outside Somnath Mahadev slum in Kheda

Grey water released in the open in Gafurbasti slum of Kheda

While it is a known fact that villages are migrating towards cities, the most pertinent question is, “how well equipped are our cities to deal with the rapid urbanization?” Isher Judge Ahluwalia remarks in the High-Powered Expert

Committee report on Indian urban that urbanization is not an option. It is an inevitable outcome of the faster rates of growth to which the economy has now transited.

Sanitation standards of Indian cities are abysmal. The City Sanitation Survey by Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India, in the year 2010 has thrown up some harsh figures. 4,861 out of 5161 cities/towns in India do not have even a partial sewerage network. Even in cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore, which are the most productive cities in the country, almost 50 per-cent of the households are not connected to a centralized sewer network. Less than 20 percent of the road network in urban India is covered by storm water drainage, while only 21 percent of the waste water generated is treated.

The 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) by the Government of India has fixed the target for urban sanitation as 100 percent population coverage. Certain initiatives are required to be taken up to meet this target. Recycling and reuse of sewage post treatment for non-potable purposes should be encouraged. For dense urban neighbourhoods, decentralized waste water treatment systems could probably provide a cheaper alternative to large treatment plants. A detailed study could be made to look into such options while preparing sanitation plans for a particular area. Targeted subsidy may be made available to those living in slums on taking house service connections. Comprehensive storm water drainage system has to be provided in all cities and towns in order to avoid water logging during monsoon. A way has to be chalked out to provide sewerage facilities to unauthorized housing colonies without giving them a right to land by implication.

Towards a Cleaner India(Excerpts from the 11th five year plan report of Government of India)

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percent open defecation free slum in Trichy. The city was ranked sixth in the country in the sanitation ranking of Indian cities by MoUD in 2009-10, and was declared the first city to make all its slums open defecation free. In the

past two years, 1783 individual toilets were constructed. There are a total of 20 pay-and-use public toilets (12 managed by private sector and eight by TCC) and 347 community toilets of which 175 are pay-and-use and 172 are free (TCC-managed). There are also special child friendly toilets within these toilet complexes.

The pay-and-use toilets are managed by CBOs that have been set up. The money collected from these toilets is used to cover electricity expenses, payment of salaries of staff at these toilets and other minor repairs. The user charges vary from 50 paise to ` 1 per use; children, elderly and physically challenged have free access. TCC maintains accounts and carries out regular auditing of the same. All CBOs that operate these community toilets make a small subscription to

come under the Women’s Action for Village Empowerment (WAVE), which is a registered society. Monthly meetings held by WAVE facilitate cross learning, problem sharing among different CBOs. The women have proved that they

understand the logistics of managing and maintaining the toilets. The men had resisted the community toilets initially, but after seeing its success in making the slums clean, they too joined the initiative. Following this, Association for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (AWASH) was established, where men too could be members. Together, WAVE and AWASH are working continuously towards ensuring sustainability of the project even when Gramalaya withdraws its activities.Photo Courtesy: Gramalaya

Sanitation for the Urban PoorEven as the entire Maharashtra state grapples with the issue of sanitation for the urban poor, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) has taken the initiative for reforms in this area. As per the Census 2001, almost 15 percent of the city’s half million population resides in slums that lack access to basic infrastructure and civic amenities.

In 2004, Shelter Associates (SA), a Pune-based NGO working with the urban poor, and SMKMC launched a project to build individual toilets for six slums in the Sangli-Miraj area. GIS mapping was undertaken with the help of slum dwellers to identify slums where individual toilets could be set up. The basis for such a survey was that slums need to be considered spatially, both internally and in relation to the rest of the city. Toilets were designed based on the needs of the residents, with space for a footpath through the slums and individual toilets outside each home. (Hindustan Times, Jan 24, 2010). The community and the local government too were completely involved in this initiative. This dedicated involvement led to the success of the initiative.

The Central and State Governments have been making efforts in the form of mobilization of funds under various programs. However, desired targets are yet to be achieved. The HPEC report points out that the urban local bodies must have sufficient skill sets to design, develop and manage projects and assets being created. The JNNURM has allocated 5 percent of project funding for capacity building, but ULBs have made little demand to undertake training.

There is a need to share success stories and models of leading practices. As the success stories of Trichy and Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad reflect, it is the combined efforts of the local government, residents and other agencies that eventually reap benefits for the society.

A member of WAVE interacts with a slum-dweller

Women of Sengulathan Koil Street were all smiles after their slum was completely freed of open defecation

A child-friendly toilet in Trichy

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Moving from Measurement to Improvement After data collection and analysis, in the next phase, the PAS project is focusing on preparation of customized performance improvement plans for ULBs. These Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) and Information System Improvement Plans (ISIPs) are targeted at improving service delivery and data management at ULB level.

UMC teams are currently visiting a few selected cities. Analysis of data of three years collected from the ULB will be presented to the administrative and elected wings. Based on consultations with city staff, low-cost/no-cost options will be identified to support the improve-ments in the city.

The intervention will be in areas of water supply, sewerage, solid waste management, storm water drainage and financial management. UMC will provide technical assistance and training and capacity building inputs.

PAS Highlights UMC has collected data for round two (year 2009-10, 2010-11) for all urban local bodies under the ongoing Performance Assessment System (PAS) Project.

The analysis of data collected for 2008-09 highlights that while quite a few cities of Gujarat score well on the solid waste management front, sewerage and storm water drainage sectors call for immediate attention. Sixty-seven

cities have some extent of underground sewerage network. Out of these, only six have Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), while 15 have oxidation ponds.

In absence of a centralized sewerage system, cities have open drains for collection of grey water while individual households have soak pits or septic tanks for disposal of black water.

Based on data provided by cities, it can be seen that 57 percent of slum house-holds have access to toilets (individual and community toilets) as compared to 81 percent at the city level.

While sanitation continues to be a major challenge, another issue that needs to be looked into is the financial sustainability of the service. The state average of collection of these charges is 55 percent. Of the 166 ULBs, 63 do not levy any sewerage/drainage tax. In most cities, the sewerage tax is collected under the head of ‘gutter vero’. The ULBs levy a ‘safai kar’ that takes care of solid waste management expenses and cleaning of open drains in absence of an underground sewer network.

The sewerage treatment capacity in the state is low. Of the 166 ULBs, only six have sewerage treatment plants. Recycling and reuse of waste water is not practised in Gujarat. However, Surat Municipal Corporation has initiated the practice and currently some waste water is recycled and used for watering municipal gardens.

Most ULBs do not have a separate department for waste water. Only 54 ULBs have a dedicated department for waste water management, while for the rest, it is taken care of by the sanitation department that deals with solid waste management as well. Complaints related to waste water are not segregated and get mixed with other complaints at civic centres.

To combat the low standards of sanitation in the state, the government of Gujarat has initiated sanitation program under the Nirmal Gujarat program since 2007. Under this program, it provides technical and financial support for construction of toilets for urban poor to achieve the “Swarnim goal”.

A community toilet in Surendranagar

A locked pay-and-use toilet in Surendranagar

UMC team members interact with slum dwellers of Charedi in Pethapur Municipality...

… while another member gathers information from a ULB official

ULB officials at a presentation on performance improvement by UMC

A newly-built toilet lying unused for want of substructure

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In July 2011, UMC presented a detailed analysis of their city’s status to municipal officials of Jasdan, Lathi, Petlad and Himmatnagar. Presentations were made and possible interventions for improving the water-sanitation situation in these cities were discussed. The cities have been very forthcoming to undertake required studies for improving their service delivery.

Performance improvementUMC intervention in Rajkot

In the last issue we mentioned how Rajkot Municipal Corporation had wholeheartedly supported UMC team’s efforts to assist the civic body in computing water quantity supplied through tank level measurements which are maintained by the city on an hourly basis.

The improvement in the format for recording water quantity as suggested by UMC not only eased the operations by the concerned staff but also

provided information related to variations in downstream supply which was not possible previously. The staff could very well use this information in rectifying the variations in supply quantity by curtailing or enhancing the water distribution to the particular sub-zone. Moreover, valuable inform-ation could be easily sent to the engineer-in-charge for taking suitable

remedial measures instantaneously. In the earlier arrangement, the informa-tion provided in the report was made available only on the next day. The excel spreadsheet data also enables graphical display of data comparison

for easy and speedy understanding by decision makers.

Thus, small interventions involving mere format improvement provide low-cost/no-cost solutions to complex water problems. This further opens up avenues for further explorations of similar interventions that could effect much needed improvement through least cost solutions.

Tete-a-tete

Tilak Shastri has been working with urban local bodies in Gujarat since 1992. A civil engineer by qualification, his interest in city development pulled him to the municipality office of Mandvi Nagarpalika in Kutch district. As a chief officer (CO), he has made significant improvements in solid waste management, property tax collection, water supply sectors in municipalities of Bhuj, Gandhidham, Anjar, Nadiad, Kheda, Palanpur, Deesa and now in Jasdan.

“The biggest problem that a munici-pality faces is lack of financial and human resources. To bring about reforms in the city, the president and

the chief officer have to work in close coordination.

It becomes difficult for a CO to bring about change if the elected council dominates the city staff through their political clout. The Council many a time buckles to the political pressure for job appointments in the munici-pality. Hence, very often the people recruited do not have the required skill sets for the job. This is set to change with the new cadres formed by the Government of Gujarat and cities will soon have a qualified accountant, municipal engineer and a health officer.

Jasdan has been a very good experience for me. I was posted here in 2002-03 and again in 2009. I have enjoyed full support of the political wing, the public and the municipality staff. My strategies were implemented one by one and we could bring about administrative and financial reforms in Jasdan.

The property tax collection in the city was very poor at 30 percent and in order to improve the situation, we started an incentive scheme (inami yojana). The ward which has maximum recovery of property taxes gets 50 percent of the funds from the vikas

bhandol yojana (a pool of all funds available from various schemes). We also gave rewards of ` 2000 each to the team making highest recovery. Along with this, we sent a message to the citizens that the municipality was serious about tax collection by sealing properties, cutting water connections, streetlights and by stopping waste collection in the areas not paying taxes. This saw the tax collection rise to 62 percent in 2009-10.

Similarly, when I was the CO of Nadiad Municipality, we had created an escrow account to enable arrears payment to GEB. The municipality was able to escrow ` 100,000 daily. Such efforts enabled the city to get a waiver of the 24 percent interest levied on the ULB by GEB.

To streamline monitoring of activities in the city, we have initiated an ambitious e-governance project in Jasdan Munici-pality. Functioning of 12 departments is now being streamlined on this plat- form. We are also thinking of having a dress code for all municipal staff.

For a ULB to be able to bring about improvement in its functioning, it has to focus on resource identification, mobilization and upgradation.”

UMC staff member discusses performance improvement plan for Rajkot with RMC officials

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To Rajkot Municipal Corporation goes the credit for attempting to mainstream rag pickers in the

formal service of door-to-door garbage collection. This idea took shape in 2008 when RMC approached rag pickers in the city and asked them to form self-help groups. They were registered as sakhi mandals and were given training in door-to-door waste collection.

Each sakhi mandal comprises nine sakhis and a leader. Currently, there are 94 such sakhi mandals, of which 86 have been allotted the work of door-to-door garbage collection. Route maps have been prepared by the ward supervisors. As per the rules laid down, each sakhi can collect garbage from a maximum of 300 houses or shops. Thus, each sakhi mandal can collect garbage from a maximum of 2,700 houses/shops. The coverage under door-to-door collection in Rajkot is 98 percent.

The sakhis collect waste between 7 am and 11 am every morning. While collecting waste, they segregate the recyclable matter such as plastic and paper, and later sell it. This way, while they earn extra money, the quantum of waste eventually going to the processing plant is reduced. The door-to door collection initiative is a win-win situation for all the stakeholders—the sakhi mandals, RMC and the residents. After the outsourcing of door-to-door collection to sakhi mandals, the corporation’s SWM staff members who have been freed

from the task of door-to-door waste collection have been given the task of sweeping. Roads are swept in the mornings and in the afternoons. Vegetable markets are cleaned up at night through scraping and brushing.

The mobile squad was formed in June 2008 to ensure that there is no littering on the roads. Administrative charges are collected from the defaulters. By the end of April 2011, 18,585 cases had been registered and ` 5.056 million collected as administrative charges. Clinics or hospitals found guilty of unsafe disposal of bio-medical waste are slapped with an administrative charge of ` 5,000.

The debris squad was formed at the same time to collect debris from construction sites. It takes administrative charges from the responsible person at the site. The construction waste in turn is used to fill up low lying and water-logged areas. Till April 2011, administrative charges amounting to ` 0.216 million have been levied against lifting of construction waste.

RMC established a municipal solid waste processing plant on a build-own-operate basis. It leased out its land to a private sector company (Hanjer Biotech Energies Pvt Ltd.) that was given the responsibility to establish and operate the plant. The company is also responsible for marketing and sale of recovered products, by-products and co-products.

Leading PracticesAn integrated solution for Solid Waste Management, Rajkot Municipal Corporation

Previously, Rajkot was challenged by litter strewn across the city. By 2010, it had secured the ninth rank in a national sanitation survey conducted by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, under the National Urban Sanitation Policy.

The approach towards making the city clean has been an integrated one — including improving efficiencies in waste collection, transportation, treatment and disposal and in imposing administrative charges as penalty.

Cities interested in technical assistance under the PAS program are requested to contact UMC office at 079-27546403 or send an email at meghna@umcasia.org Sample list of areas where the PAS program is supporting select ULBs are:

l Identification of key issues in water supply, sewerage, storm water drainage and solid waste management

l To improve the financial viability of service delivery through: Rapid water audit Reducing Non Revenue Water Improving cost recovery Rapid Energy Audit Energy bill validation

l To provide equitable water supply to slums Improve coverage in slums of

individual water connections Identify barriers to slum

dwellers taking individual connections

l Prepare action plans for improvement in the water supply, sewerage, storm water drainage and solid waste management sectors Improvement in data

recording formats for the ULB to ease decision making Improvement in complaints

redressal system of the ULB

A JCB collecting the construction waste

RMC officials supervise lifting of gar-bage container from a secondary point

Door-to-door garbage collection in Rajkot by a sakhi

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Malkapur is a rapidly growing town on the outskirts of Karad town in Satara district of Maharashtra.

Earlier a gram panchayat, it was upgraded in 2008 to the status of nagar panchayat. In 1988, the town launched the first water supply system but it proved insufficient for the increasing population. The local body then decided to revamp the system and have a 24x7 water supply pattern as proposed by the Maharashtra Jivan Pradhikaran (water board). Efforts were made to convince residents that continuous water supply would solve their water-related problems. The nagar

panchayat conducted awareness programs including door-to-door meetings with residents and publishing advertisements in local newspapers informing them of the benefits of continuous water supply. Officers from Malkapur visited Badlapur, another town where the 24x7 system was already in place, to study its system.

On the second day of the tour, the team visited the water treatment plant and pumping station in Karad Munici-pality where a pilot implementation of 24X7 system was undertaken, to study its system. The final lap of the tour was the visit to Kolhapur, where the team got to study the DEWATS located at the isolation hospital staff quarters. This was part of the community-based sanitation (CBS) program. It was funded by Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) and BORDA, a German

organization working for sustainable protection of natural resources. As per an amendment to the Development Control Regulations of KMC, it is now compulsory for small and medium townships, apartments, hospitals and commercial buildings to recycle and reuse wastewater.

The team also visited a vermicomposting unit that has been set up for Rajendra-nagar slums and is being operated by a 15-member committee of slum dwellers. Waste is collected from 400 households in the slums and surrounding areas. ` 30 is collected every month from each house- hold towards payment of salary to the staff. There is a separate bank account for the financial management of the plant.

Outcome of the visitThe team from Gujarat was highly impressed by the Malkapur initiative where the elected and executive wings worked closely for the betterment of city. Navsari municipal officials are willing to undertake water audit on a priority to assess their water losses.

Lathi Municipality has shown interest in taking up a pilot implementation of 24x7 water supply in one of their wards. Learning of the benefits of using HDPE pipes, the municipality on return, has already laid 120-m-long HDPE pipelines each in two slums of Lathi. Malkapur has used these pipelines for its water supply network as it ensures zero leakage and minimal wear and tear.

Kagda Peeth

Kagda Peeth, a film based on the rag picking community, gets its name from a waste dumping

ground in Ahmedabad. This 30-minute- long film, prepared by the students of CEPT University under the guidance of Hasmukh Baradi of the Theatre and Media Centre, and disseminated by UMC, calls for attention to the plight of the thousands of rag pickers, who face exploitation at the hands of middlemen.

As per a survey in year 2004, Ahmedabad produces 1,700 tonnes of waste every day. Fifteen percent of the total waste produced is recyclable, of which 8-10 percent is collected by rag pickers. While a majority of them are women, there are also young rag pickers who have either dropped out of school or work after school hours. The activity of rag picking reduces 20 percent of the total volume of waste to be transported by AMC to its dump sites, yet the profit is never passed on to them. Far from being appreciated for their work, they have to face severe hardships. Harassed by policemen and city authorities, they are treated as outcastes by society. Unaware of health hazards, many rag pickers suffer injuries and get infected with various ailments. Amid the unpleasantries in the lives of ragpickers, the film manages to capture the glint of hope in their eyes. They may not be complaining too much—for, it is their sole source of livelihood—but, they are clear that they want their children to have a chance at a better life.

The film also highlights demands by NGOs working with rag pickers, who seek an identity for this community as well as a regular source of income in the form of a contract for door-to-door waste collection.

UMC CornerStudy tour to 24x7 initiative of Malkapur city, Maharashtra

As part of its capacity building and knowledge exchange activities, UMC had organized a three-day study tour for interested officials from ULBs of Gujarat. Officers from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Navsari and Lathi Municipalities participated in the tour to learn from leading practices in water and sanitation sector of Maharashtra cities. A delegation of seven members visited Malkapur Nagar Panchayat to study their 24x7 water supply system and 100 percent metering initiative. They also visited Kolhapur Municipal Corporation to see their pilot project on DEWATS (Decentralized Waste water System) and Karad Municipality’s initiative towards energy efficiency at their water treatment plant and pumping station.

Visitors get a briefing of activities of Karad Nagar Panchayat

The delegation with members of Malkapur Nagar Panchayat staff

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India Sanitation Portal www.indiasanitationportal.org

The India Sanitation Portal is an open, inclusive, web-based platform for sharing sanitation knowledge among practitioners and the general public.

India Sanitation Portal was launched at SACOSAN in November 2008 and was conceived as a collaborative effort between several organizations in the sector.

It aims to draw on the rich experience of sanitation-sector experts, package their knowledge and add value to it through technology and then disseminate it to a larger audience through the internet.

India Environment Portal www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in

The India Environment Portal is managed by the Centre for Science and Environment and has been promoted by the National Knowledge Commission.

The portal is an effort to provide a comprehensive, open, virtual inform-ation resource centre to promote

informed decision making on environ-mentally sustainable practices. It brings together a vast repository of information and resources on environment, including news,feature articles, opinions, books, reports and documents, directories of government institutions, audio-video files and photos related to various aspects of environment.

International Water and Sanitation Centrewww.irc.nl/

Since its foundation in 1968, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre has facilitated the sharing, promotion and use of knowledge so that governments, professionals and organizations can better support poor men, women and children in developing countries to obtain water and sanitation services they will use and maintain.

World Toilet Organizationwww.worldtoilet.org/wto/

Founded in 2001, World Toilet Organi-zation (WTO) is a global non-profit organization dedicated to improving the conditions of toilets and sanitation worldwide.

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council www.wsscc.org/

The mission of Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council is to achieve sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene for all people in the world.

WSSCC contributes particularly through its strong membership ethos, close links to grassroots-level work, long experience of community management and of sanitation and hygiene, and its durable institutional home in the United Nations under UNOPS.

www.watersanitationhygiene.orgThis site hosts a large collection of technical resources for water, sanitation and hygiene. Subject areas range from climate change, diarrhoeal disease, ecological sanitation, to rainwater harvesting.

UMC: The Urban Management Centre is a not-for-profit organization based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, working towards professionalizing urban management in India and South Asia. UMC provides technical assistance and support to Indian state local government asso-ciations and implements programs that work towards improvement in cities by partnering with city governments. UMC builds and enhances the capacity of city governments by providing much-needed expertise and ready access to innovations on good governance implemented in India and abroad. UMC is a legacy organization of International City/County Management Association

(ICMA) and hence is also known as ICMA-South Asia. More details are available on www.umcasia.org

The ‘Performance Assessment of Urban Water and Sanitation (PAS) in India’, an action research project being coordi-nated by CEPT University, has been initiated with funding support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project, to be implemented over five years (2009-2014) in Gujarat and Maharashtra, aims to develop perfor-mance measurement and monitoring system for urban water and sanitation services. The PAS Project follows the framework of Service Level Benchmarking of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India.

The Urban Management Centre (UMC) is CEPT University’s partner in Gujarat.www.pas.org.in

UMC Editorial TeamManvita BaradiMeghna MalhotraChitra NairArvind SinghYashesh Anantani

You can send us articles or suggestions at info@umcasia.org, which we would be happy to print in the next newsletter. Please send them within one month of receipt of this issue.

Useful Websites