‘Solid waste management biggest challenge before cities’

NEW DELHI: Eight out of every 10 city managers including municipal commissioners and mayors feel solid waste management is the biggest challenge before their cities while 70% of them feel it is improvement in water supply.
According to a survey conducted among city managers across eight states by Janaagraha, a Bengaluru-based not-for profit, 60% of the respondents felt improving sanitation was another major challenge followed by dealing with air pollution (55%). Half of the respondents also felt providing affordable housing to poor is also a big task.

The survey titled "Voice of City Governments" also found that majority of the city managers felt that fixing the issues/ challenges cities requires a 'systems' approach. Nearly three-fourth of the respondents cited poor coordination among different agencies as the key factor for the mess in urban areas and the main stumbling block for delivering high quality life and services. The other key reasons are inadequate number of skilled staff, weak enforcement, lack of proper city planning and lack of civic sense among citizens.

"While there has been increasing noise over the challenges on urban mobility, the same did not figure among the top five quality of life challenges cited most by city-leaders. While respondents from bigger cities did identify mobility as a significant and immediate challenge, those from smaller cities did not," the report said.

Citing how municipal bodies are highly dependent on financial assistance from states, more than nine out of every 10 respondents said devolving more powers to municipal entities over taxation and fees would help improve the situation. Even after 25 years of passing of the 74th amendment of Constitution state governments are yet to devolve adequate funds, functions and functionaries to cities.

The survey also found that city managers were in favour of more citizen participation in platforms such as ward committees/ area sabhas to improve decision making and introduction of participatory budgeting.