A parliamentary panel has criticised the "callous attitude" of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry over constructing toilets without proper provision for waste management.
According to an action taken report on the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Urban Development, the ministry said in the sewage and septage management sector, contracts of 318 projects worth Rs 15,058 crore have been awarded and four projects worth Rs 12 crore have been completed.
The report was tabled in the Parliament today.
In its earlier report, the committee had said though providing sewage connections to households was one of the focus areas of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), it had observed that the number of connections under it was "too inadequate" with respect to the number of households.
In its observation following the ministry's reply, the panel said despite expressing concern over the inadequacy of available sewage treatment plants in various states, the ministry had neither given information nor initiated action to collect data.
"The committee, while expressing their unhappiness over the callous attitude of the ministry, once again underlined the futility of lakhs of toilets being constructed without proper provision for septage, sewerage and drainage..." the report stated.
The panel has asked the ministry to encourage states to perform better in providing sewage connections and enhancing the number or capacity of sewage treatment plants in the states.
On the government's flagship programmes, including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Urban, the committee observed that the ministry was giving the excuse of procedural delays in accounting for spent funds.
The reality is that enough thought had not gone into the promises made to the people, it said.
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