A time-frame of December 2012 has been fixed to achieve the decided benchmarks. The civic body has made this planning after state and Union governments asked it to match its standards with those prescribed by them.
To provide maximum amenities to citizens in least time, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has set benchmarks for various developmental works.
A time-frame of December 2012 has been fixed to achieve the decided benchmarks. The civic body has made this planning after state and Union governments asked it to match its standards with those prescribed by them.
The benchmarks are mostly fixed on basic amenities and essential services. These include water supply, waste water treatment and re-cycling, collection of solid and liquid waste, fixing water metres, disposal of solid waste and lying storm water line in all parts of the city.
As per guidelines of the Union government, civic bodies like SMC should attain 100% success in providing these services. However, baring some areas, SMC's performance is far impressive than other civic bodies in the state.
SMC has set a benchmark to provide potable water in 91% of city area. At present, 86% area is connected with civic water supply network.
Against set benchmark to recover 100% operational and maintenance costs of supplying water, the civic body has managed only 85% of it. For December 2012, it has set a target of covering 90% of the area with water supply network.
For drainage connectivity, the plan is to provide connectivity to 92% area of the diamond city, which is 87% now, while increasing capacity of sewage treatment plant from 93% to 98%.
In solid waste collection, SMC is most impressive with 97% of the city covered by the service. It aims to attain 100% coverage till Dec 2012.
"There are a few areas where we need to improve like lying storm water lines and recycling waste water. At present, we are able to recycle only 2.5% of waste water while the benchmark is 20%. We are upgrading ourselves to attain the benchmark," Jatin Shah, city engineer of SMC, said.
Shah added that more than 40% work laying storm water line remains to be completed.
Shah further said that in the matter of average water supply to citizens, the civic body has achieved results better than the benchmark.
As against the Union government criterion of supplying 135 liters of water per person, SMC supplies 147 liters.
Sources said that these benchmarks have been fixed based on orders from state and union government. The 13th Finance Commission of India has asked big civic bodies to attain benchmarks set by them or prepare plans to achieve the nearest figure.
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