About the scheme  

To recast the urban landscape of the country, to make urban areas more livable and inclusive besides driving economic growth, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has launched a centrally sponsored scheme namely Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

About AMRUT  

• AMRUT seeks to lay a foundation to enable cities and towns to eventually grow into smart cities.  
• AMRUT adopts a project approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water supply, sewerage, septage management, storm water drains, transport and development of green spaces and parks with special provision for meeting the needs of children.

Coverage  

This Mission will be implemented in 500 cities and towns each with a population of one lakh and above, some cities situated on stems of main rivers, a few capital cities and important cities located in hilly areas, islands and tourist areas. 

Approach  

Implementation of this Mission will be linked to promotion of urban reforms such as 

• e-governance, 
• constitution of professional municipal cadre, 
• devolving funds and functions to urban local bodies, 
• review of Building bye-laws, 
• improvement in assessment and collection of municipal taxes,
• credit rating of urban local bodies, 
• energy and water audit and 
• Citizen-centric urban planning. 

Funding  

• Central assistance will be to the extent of 50 percent of project cost for cities and towns with a population of up to 10 lakh and one-third of the project cost for those with a population of above 10 lakh.  
• Central assistance will be released in three instalments in the ratio of 20:40:40 based on achievement of milestones indicated in State Annual Action Plans.

Why in News?

32 AMRUT Projects were completed. It was informed that Himachal Pradesh is ranked 15th and Uttarakhand 24th in AMRUT’s National rankings.

Reference:

1. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1662997
2. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1652993