Table

of Contents

I INTRODUCTION II THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE OF THE PARTICIPANTS III RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES AND FRAMEWORK IV FIELD WORK

1 3 6 8 8 22 41 68 71

Alandi: a pilgrimage town & Magarpatta Township, Pune Urban Sustainability: A case study of Mysore Urban Sustainability: Case Study of Kochi, Kerala

V POLICY ANALYSIS VI CONCLUSIONS

I. Introduction
After two GIZ-DAAD Summer Schools in 2009 and 2010, Sustainable Habitats III was the 3rd in India and the 8th within this framework after Vietnam, Egypt, Brazil and Peru. This Summer School again focused on common learning and strengthening dialogue between researchers, development practitioners and policy makers concerning sustainable urban development. The GIZ-DAAD-BVIEER Summer School 2011 aimed at introducing twenty- nine participants from all over India, Germany, Iran and Egypt to the concept of sustainable habitats, its approach and implementation in India. This report summarises the research process and the findings of the 3-weeks programme. We started our research by investigating the potential of JNNURM-projects to improve quality of life in Indian cities. The reader of this report will find out though that in terms of sustainable development JNNURM-projects are not in the focus of the institutions and concerned stakeholders. Instead, by looking at three different examples (sanitation problems in the pilgrimage town Alandi, integrated solid waste management in Kochi and aspects of urban sustainability in Mysore) we found conflicting policies, at most best practices and scattered pilot projects. This led us to an investigation at different levels regarding policy-, governance- and implementation-strategies to find opportunities for holistic approaches towards urban sustainability in India. This was only possible by fruitful cooperations with local partner-organisations, which will be introduced more detailed in this report. We hope we can contribute with our work to stimulate meaningful discussions for Indian cities towards a sustainable development.

Our Summer School Identity

We are University students and young professionals with diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds from India, Iran, Egypt, and Germany. We are taking part in a Summer School where we are studying matters of urban sustainability, with a special focus on energy efficiency, sanitation and solid waste management. We will be combining action research, field study, academic discussions and analysis, peer learning and other participatory approaches during our course of study. We resolve to make our research work independent, fair, respectful and non- threatening. We have come to learn from you all since you know better about your living- and working-conditions than us.

Our partners:
GIZ is the organization for international cooperation of Germany. GIZ works with the Government of India and civil society organizations in the field of sustainable development. DAAD is the German Academic Exchange Service. DAAD is a joint organization of German institutions of higher education and student bodies. It is promoting academic cooperation and exchange worldwide. BVIEER stands for Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute for Environment, Education and Research, which is associated to the Bharati Vidyapeeth University in Pune. 1

Partner Organisations for Field Research:

Ecosan Services Foundation, Pune, Maharashtra Environmental Cell of GIZ-ASEM, Kochi, Kerala Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies at the National Institute of Engineering (NIE-CREST), Mysore, Karnataka Thank You! We would like to thank our international and local partners, the interviewees, and all the many others who supported and facilitated our Summer School in Pune, Mysore and Kochi. Without their support the Summer School would not have been possible.

II. The Learning Experience of the Participants

Peer learning and intercultural learning
The learning process during the summer school was based on peer learning which depends on the knowledge of the participants and their experiences as the main resource of mutual learning. During the whole summer school period, the learning process took place in different ways, including informal discussions, group work and the exchange of perceptions and common experiences during the field work. Since the participants were from various nationalities, intercultural learning also took place both in the classroom during debates or group work and informally in personal relationships which started to be built among the participants. Being aware of the intercultural environment, the participants were open-minded towards others attitudes, values, behaviours and beliefs. Meanwhile cultural misunderstandings were solved in a humorous way, which even enhanced the group forming process as it helped to understand oneself as well as the others better. This learning experience can be divided into three main phases (three weeks) as follows: First week: Common ground During this week, all participants passed through similar learning experiences. The group members came from various backgrounds (e.g. engineering, sociology, education, geography, architecture, urban planning, disaster management, and other professions). They had different experiences which enhanced the exchange of knowledge. Diversities in each of the group members perspectives and interests were quite obvious through the first discussions. Knowing each other professionally as well as personally took place. Therefore it was possible to meet people from the same age who share a common research interest and similar focus. Working on different case studies and locations all over the world provided a good opportunity for knowledge sharing. Learning about team work dynamics took place during the reading skill seminar in which we drafted individual mind maps, those were obviously different from one to another based upon individuals background and interest. In addition, personal capacity analysis was also very useful through the Paragon learning style inventory and its learning style test, by which the group members were classified according to their different characteristics, which, for example, distinguished between introverts or extroverts or feeler and thinker. This helped forming a preliminary idea about how the dynamics within each of the groups could look like.

Second Week: Internal group dynamics The participants realized the importance of informal meetings and discussions in which ideas about certain topics or issues within the group could be exchanged. Building on each others ideas, and the freedom to express ones opinions was very important throughout the whole process. When any differences in opinions arose, compromises were soughed. Planning skills for field visits and interview preparation mechanisms were also developed. In addition, the customization of data collection techniques came up as an issue and was transferred by the more experienced team members to the other group members. Different group dynamics were noticed within the three different groups: Kochi: Most of the group members were extroverts. They tried to put different individuals understandings and knowledge into a common group platform from the very first meeting, relating this to the research topic urban sustainability through diagrams, questions, brain storming sessions and debating to reach a compromise for how to proceed with each step. Pune: According to the learning style test most of the group members were introverts. Especially at the beginning it took a while until the ice broke, but by the end of the week, everyone contributed to a similar extent to the project discussions and findings and the group managed to come up with a comprehensive and holistic result. Mysore: A mixture of introverts and extroverts has managed to work together, but also to follow the individual group members research interests. Action research and mutual discussions took place on a regular basis to find out commonalities and points of intersection.

Field study learning experience At first, the identification of various stakeholders and their inter-linkages was undertaken to reach an understanding of the conflict of interests between them. The difference between documentation and the grounded reality was recognized (e.g. Kochi is labeled as a bin-less city while one can find garbage easily in the streets). Backdated reports did not provide clear, updated information and did not mention conflicts wherever they existed, as reports usually paint a rosy picture of the reality. The ideas of stakeholders were translated into technical analysis. Technical terminologies were simplified for the ease of understanding during stakeholders meetings. The different questions to various stakeholders and different ways of asking the questions were discussed on a daily basis (what to ask? whom to ask? how to ask?). In addition to understanding the potential level of the interviewee, the questions were reframed in order to avoid conflicts of ideas or misunderstandings. The role that the interpreter plays during the field visits was identified and the various levels of understanding of the members of the same organization were analyzed. Data collection techniques were customized according to the type of required data. Third week: Findings and Conclusions In depth-discussions with various resource persons and professionals were held in the third week of our summer school. The topics of those discussions and learning dialogues were sanitation, energy efficiency, and urban sustainability. The invited guests for in/depths discussions were as follows: Prof. S. L. Kolhatkar (Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Agriculture- Post Grad, Principal) Dr. Kiran Shinde (Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Agriculture- Under Grad, Principal) Prof. Samir Shastri (Sinhagad College of Engineering, Faculty) Mr. Sanjay Jagtap (Pune Municipal Corporation, Solid Waste Management Cell) Dr. R. R. Pardesi (Pune Municipal Corporation, Chief Medical Officer) Mr. Rahul Navale (Environment Management, Consultant) Mr. Sham Sundar Subbarao (NIE - Crest, Mysore, Director) Mr. Esakki Raj (GIZ Kochi Cell) Mr. Ramesh Nair (GIZ Kochi Cell) Pryanka Patange (Ecosan Services Foundation) Sree Satish (Ecosan Services Foundation)

III. Research Methodologies and Framework:

The learning process (see Fig. 1) comprises of three major areas; theoretical background, action research, and the results. In the first part, governance and sustainable development are linked in our conceptual framework. Governance is defined as the process of decision making and implementation1 (UNESCAP 2010). Governance could be perceived as a mechanism to reach sustainable development in a city. Giradet (1999) stated that: a sustainable city is organized so as to enable its citizens to meet their own needs and to enhance their well-being without damaging the natural world or endangering the living conditions of other people, now or in the future.2 The research project aimed at examining the governance system of three case studies in different cities to see how far their activities and policies are sustainable within the three main aspects of sustainable development (economy, environment, and socio-culture). The methodology used for the fieldwork is based on ideas of action research which is a form of participatory and process-oriented planning, implementation and evaluation of promotions measures (Gagel 2000)3 practised especially in the development cooperation sector. Action research is a reciprocal process in which the conducting researchers have a positive impact on the situation of the target group. Due to the limited time frame of only one week, the research groups could not have sufficient interaction with the targeted community. Instead, the research groups became facilitators as they worked in cooperation with partner organisations and different stakeholders on possible solutions and offered their recommendations. The three research groups focused on various aspects of urban development in detail to compare the results and draw a conclusion highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the governance systems based on a policy analysis of the cities.

Kochi group (Urban sustainability)

Based on the team members expertise and interests, in relevance to the urban sustainability aspects environment, economy and socio-culture, action research took place by the means of observations and interviews with various stakeholders. For data analysis, different tools and techniques were used (problem tree, SWOT, and stakeholders analysis) to find the gaps and linkages, coming up with the findings and results.

Pune group (Sanitation)

Focusing on the pilgrim town Alandi and Margapatta township, research took place based on interviews, map analysis, lectures and observations at the sites. For the township, environmental as well as social aspects of sustainability were analyzed. For Alandi, a problem analysis chart was developed to identify causes and effects. A
1

UNESCAP (2010) What is good governance? http://www.unecap.org/pdd/prs/ProjectActivities/Ongoing/gg/governance.asp (21.09.2011) 2 Giradet, H. (1999) Creating Sustainable Cities/ Schumacher Briefing No 2, Green Books, Devon 3 Gagel, D. (2000) The Fundamentals of Action Research in Development Cooperation. www.actionresearch.de

prioritization of the problems and a discussion of their interdependencies were the basis for the development of strategies to tackle the problems comprehensively.

Mysore group (Energy efficiency)

Starting with a common vision about the research, three major targeted subtopics were addressed: policy, governance, and implementation. Following individual interests based on action research methods (interviews, focused group discussions) each member tried to conceptualize the relevance of individual findings with the target subtopics. The following parts will present the findings of the empirical researc

Fig. 1 Conceptual framework of the research

IV. Field Work

1. Alandi: A pilgrimage town

Masoud Rezaei Badafshani, K.N. Dhananjaya, Anitha Mary Immanuel, Stephanie Leder, Saurabh H. Mehta, Jai Prakash Sharma, Yeeshu Shukla, Juergen Staeudel, Anna Zimmer

Background of Alandi

The town of Alandi is situated on the bank of the river Indrayani in Khed taluka of Pune district, Maharashtra, India. The details of location are as follows Characteristics of Alandi

Location

18.67N Latitude, 73.90E Longitude,

The town owes its existence to the great poet and Sant (Saint) Dynaneshwar Maharaj (pronounced as Jnaneshwar).The history dates back to 1296 AD when sant Dnyaneshwar took Sajeeva Samadhi (Self Buried Alive) after his glorious work Dnyaneshwari. Dynaneshwari is a masterpiece of Marathi literature which is comprised of the poets comments on Bhagavad Gita with the essence of Vedas, Gita and the empirical knowledge of the poet. The town is well known for the Dynaneshwar Maharaaj templebuilt in 1570 AD on the banks of the river Indrayani. Millions of pilgrims visit the temple annually with a majority arriving at two main seasons of the year. Palakhi: A 1000 year old tradition, which is celebrated in the month of Ashada (June-July) where in the pilgrims walk from Alandi to Pandharpur traversing about 150 Km of distance. Karthiki Ekadashi: It is celebrated in the month of November/ December. It is basically an annual fair on Karthik Purnima which is attended by thousands of devotees. Majority of the pilgrims visiting the temple are from rural areas, farmers in particular and it is so because of the fact that Dynaneshwar Maharaj was a devotee of Pandurang- Vittal (Shepherd God) a rural deity. Demographics According to the Census 2001, the population of the town is 17,565 and the current population is projected to be 23000. The municipality was established in 1869 AD and the present local governing body is Alandi Nagar Parishad (Alandi Municipal Council). The municipal area is about 6.4 Sq. Km and is divided in to 17 administrative wards. Great variations in actual population at a point in time can be seen due to the pilgrim population. The floating population varies significantly as shown below. 8

Accessibility 2 to 3 Km off the Pune-Nasik National highway{NH-50} 10 Km from PimpriChinchwad Industrial Complex 25 Km from Pune

 600000
500000 400000 300000 200000 100000 0
Normal days Weekends Ekadashi Festival/ fairs

Type of the day Normal day Thursdays and weekends Ekadashi days { twice in a month} Festivals and fairs { Palakhi / KarthikiEkadashi}

No. of piligrims 10,000 to 12,000 25,000 60,000 to 70,000 3,00,000 to 5,00,000

Floating population It can be seen that the floating population reaches half a million twice a year, which is 22 times the existing population. The shock load of population poses a great challenge on the stake holders and often renders the town unhygienic in terms of water, solid waste and sanitation. Existing Infrastructure The town has residential and commercial areas. Following table shows the details of infrastructure. Particulars Detail Remarks House holds 7500 Projected from census 2001 Residential Properties 3095 Projected from census 2001 Commercial Properties 5392 Projected from census 2001 Surface Water Source Indrayani Dam Total water Supplied 35MLD Million Litres Per Day Supply of Treated water 2MLD Untreated water 33MLD Supplied directly to taps No. of toilets 200 No. of 300 For accommodation of about Dharamshalas/Maths* 3,00,000 pilgrims during festivals Sewage treatment plant Construction stopped/incomplete Sewage disposal Untreated sewage Disposed directly in to Indrayani river The maths are located inside the town, they provide facilities for about 3,00,000 people and rest of the people stay in camps which are mostly outside the town. Map 1 shows the location of the sanitation related infrastructure as well as the concentration of pilgrims in a city camp side and the location of the main queue of pilgrims during festival times.

Map 1: Alandi Municipal Council with existing water supply and sanitation infrastructure

Current Scenario: A problematic sanitation situation The influx of pilgrims especially during the festive seasons poses a challenge to the municipal council of Alandi, which has inadequate funds and infrastructure to manage the floating population. Besides having inadequate infrastructure the pilgrim town also faces some other problems. Some of the major problems are: Inadequate sanitation facilities and subsequent open defecation

A large population of religious tourists resides in 300 maths during the peak season. These maths have different capacity and together have about 3500 toilets. Within the temple premises there are 5 toilets which are generally not used and are maintained by the temple trust. Besides, sometimes temple trusts arranges for about 100 toilets during the festive seasons. The Municipal Council also gets 160 (4 units) toilets during the two major festivals which are operated and maintained by them. And finally there are some private organizations that add up 200-250 toilets during the two festive seasons. Unsafe water supply 10

The water network that exists was put in place almost seventy years ago and was designed as per the small population that used to reside in Alandi at that time. Since then the population has increased many fold and the water treatment facility is not sufficient to take care of the existing population. Of the 35 MLD supply, only 2 MLD is treated. Disposal of untreated sewage into the river Indriyani

The sewage treatment plant project was left incomplete because of insufficient funds and is hardly ever operational. As a result of this the sewage is directly disposed into the river without any treatment. Improper solid waste management

There is no mechanism to segregate or treat the solid waste, as a result of which there are open dumps in the town. The solid waste is dumped next to the river bed. The prime causes identified demographic challenges, lack of ownership amongst the stakeholders, governance issues, and infrastructural issues. Ownership (and Awareness) Issues Based on the analysis of the problems in Alandi, stakeholders were identified outlining their role in enabling proper provision and management of services. The primary responsibilities of service provision lie with Alandi Municipal Council, who has the legal responsibility of providing infrastructure services like water supply, wastewater, solid waste management, etc. The power to levy taxes/ charges is also with the Council, with approval required by the Government of Maharashtra. While the administrative and financial powers lie with the Council, there is lack of ownership by the Council in matters related to the pilgrims. The Council looks to funding by Government of Maharashtra to provide the services to the pilgrims resulting in a huge gap in infrastructure creation for the pilgrims during the peak seasons. It is also important that the Council understands that the current lack of proper management of such facilities puts increased pressure in terms of human and financial resources on the existing infrastructure as well. This can be bought about by holding workshops on resource planning, both human and financial, as well as sensitization and exposure visits to similar pilgrim towns (e.g. Tirupati). The second major stakeholder identified was the Sant Dnyaneshwar Temple Trust. Though the temple is the main attraction of the pilgrims, it can be seen that the Trust is only responsible for queue management within the temple premises. The share of responsibilities for the Trust is in stark contrast to the Municipal Council which is burdened with the major obligations. The state government, in consultation with the Council and the Trust, has to ensure that the responsibilities of the pilgrim management are shared between the two parties in some proportion. One of the actions that could be initiated by the Trust would be to use public announcement systems to disseminate messages on safe defecation practices and proper disposal of garbage. The Trust could also involve itself in organizing pilgrim committees for main areas, including community people, and Council members in holding monthly awareness meetings to ensure peoples (citizens as well as pilgrims) participation during the peak seasons. As mentioned previously, the main camp of the pilgrims is within the core city (see Map 1), while temporary makeshift camps are also put up at the outskirts of the city. The Trust can provide certain services to main camps, or organize with the maths (the 11

accommodation places for the pilgrims) to extend services to the outer limits. Currently there is an informal understanding between the Council and the Trust on such issues. However, in order to ensure the sustainability of such service provision, the arrangement has to be formalized. The third major stakeholder are the commercial establishments. Given that the pilgrim season involves an influx of 3-5 lakh population, an enormous amount of revenue is generated by these establishments. At the same time, through sale of offerings like coconuts, flowers, etc., there is also a creation of substantial waste which needs to be treated and disposed safely. Cleanest Market awards can be given as incentives to these establishments to ensure their complete participation in the solid waste management activities of the city. These awards can be distributed at the important fairs as well as meetings in the city to ensure such efforts are recognized and sustained. The final but crucial stakeholders are the citizens as well as the pilgrim population. Based on discussions with Ecosan Services Foundation1, it was understood that most of the residents leave the city during the major pilgrim seasons in order to avoid the huge pilgrim population. Though this may seem an understandable reaction on the citizens side, it also implies that the citizens are not concerned with the health hazards that occur due to the mismanagement of the pilgrims. At the same time, as the pilgrims stay only for a week in the city, they do not consider that they should also contribute towards management efforts in providing services to them. Both these categories of user groups need to be sensitized to safe sanitation practices. As mentioned above, the pilgrim committees should include leaders from these groups as well as ensure effective reporting back mechanisms in cases where the services are not to the desired level. Local cadres of sanitation workers can also be formed and work together with the Councils sanitation inspectors, thus backing up the service improvement from the citizens side as well.
Alandi Municipal Council Temple trust of Alandi Commercial Establishments Citizens/ Pilgrims
Sensitization of community groups in different localities on safe sanitation practices, health and hygiene Orientation on community monitoring, segregation of solid waste, and reporting to ofFicials on lack of cleanliness

Orientation on approaches to sanitation and importance of demand creation Workshop on human resource planning, Financial management and supportive supervision Sensitization and exposure visits to successful project sites Setting up or updating the grievance redressal mechanism

Dissemination of sanitation messages during festive months Organising sanitation rallies with religious leaders, natural and key community leaders and key representatives from the city council

Introducing incentives of the reward system, involving market vendors through competitions and recognising them in public functions

Identifying and training natural leaders for creation of cadre of sanitation workers to support municipal council

Fig 1: Strategies for the awareness and ownership of the stakeholders in Alandi Municipal Council

1 Ecosan Services Foundation is the GIZ DAAD Sustainable Habitats Summer school partner in Pune, and coordinated the interviews in Alandi Municipal Council 12

Governance Issues A number of governance issues contribute to the problematic sanitation situation in Alandi. Most pressing from the point of view of the Municipal Council (MC) is the lack of funds, and the lack of vacant land within the city area to implement possible infrastructural solutions. On the financial side, 50 lakh Rupees have been sanctioned by the Government of Maharashtra (GoM), but have not yet been received by the MC. Another 20 crore Rupees have been sanctioned by GoM for the elaboration of the City Sanitation Plan (personal communication, Leader of Opposition). No matter how substantial these funds are, a sustainable sanitation solution will require the Municipality to generate its own income to be able to guarantee running costs for operation and maintenance of facilities. The following options might be taken into consideration in view of this aim. First, a substantial cooperation with the Temple Trust could ensue in a financial contribution of the Trust to operation and maintenance during festival times. Second, commercial establishments and Math owners might contribute through a specially levied tax on the incomes generated by the pilgrim flow. Third, pilgrims themselves might contribute a marginal tax. As this last option appears to be highly problematic in the given cultural context, this contribution would in any case have to be extremely low (max. 10 Rs/person), and might have to be tied to the provision of infrastructure, thus being established only once the project has taken off. Fees might for example be collected for staying in well managed camp sites, or for the registration in the electronically managed queue if this system is applied to Alandi. Also, payment of 1-2 Rs for the use of public toilets is not uncommon in India and might therefore help generating revenue in this case as well. Fourth, a percentage of the revenues generated by the commercial establishments during the pilgrim season can be collected as taxes for the collection and transportation of the waste. In order to ensure that these establishments provide such taxes, incentives can be offered to them in the form of selling places at the fringe areas of the city where the temporary camps are put up. Next to revenue generation, infrastructure costs might be reduced through the hiring of mobile toilets during festival times and coordination with Pandharpur in this regard. Regarding lack of available land within the municipal borders in order to set up facilities, it has to be stated that a large amount of pilgrims is already accommodated in spontaneous camps outside the city limits. This means that surrounding Panchayats cater to the needs of pilgrims in an unorganised and unplanned way. For an enhanced pilgrimage management, therefore, the creation of a regional body which brings the Municipal Council and concerned Panchayats together to discuss the needs of pilgrims and options to satisfy these needs is urgently required. The MC itself further suggested that the land scarcity within the city might be addressed through requesting Math owners to provide facilities on their private land, offering tax exemptions on land or property tax and relaxation of FAR regulations in exchange. This seems like a positive solution and should be looked into in more detail. A second suggestion the MC brought forward was the purchase of vacant private land by the Council. Apparently, this suggestion is in the pipeline due to inadequate funds for the transaction. However, costs of this option might be very high, and it is unclear whether large areas of the town should be used to install permanent infrastructure which is not in use for large parts of the year. Next to these issues, lack of human resources was deployed by the Municipal Council. At the moment, 10 private safaikaramchari [cleaning staff] are under contract with the MC, 13

out of which 8 are working regularly. It is obvious that this number is far too small to guarantee smooth operation and maintenance of toilet facilities as well as the collection and segregation of solid waste. Appropriate staffing during festival periods is therefore of utmost importance. Contracting private companies for the times of high demand appears as the best option, as needs fluctuate too much throughout the year to appoint regular staff. More importantly still, no Sanitation Officer is appointed to the Council and the post is vacant since several years. It is imperative that the Government of Maharashtra appoints an officer to the Sanitation Department to control possible private service providers and coordinate all the actions undertaken to enhance the sanitary situation in Alandi. Finally, interviews revealed that there is a striking absence of coordination between the different stakeholders. This is partly due to the fact that there is no legal binding of the Temple Trust regarding service provision to pilgrims within the town area. A radical solution to this set of problems would be to bring the Temple Trust under the Government of Maharashtra as has happened in Pandharpur. However, this might not be feasible for political reasons. Meanwhile, coordination can be improved significantly between the independent agencies. Although meetings between the Temple Trust and the MC already take place before the main festival season, this communication should be strengthened substantially and institutionalised. It is also advisable that meetings should include representatives of surrounding Panchayats (as suggested regarding the land issue), and results would arguably benefit from exchange of experiences between Pandharpur, Dehu and Alandi, all three major pilgrimage towns in the region. Such an exchange might even lead to the development of the City Sanitation Plans of all three cities in a coordinated matter so that benefits of synergies can be created. Especially during festival times, a permanent task force comprising representatives of the Trust, the MC as well as Panchayats should be set up to coordinate activities and address any upcoming problems. This task force should include the designated Sanitation Officer or his representative and have direct communication channels to the Municipal Commissioner. Furthermore, the option suggested in section XXX (infrastructure issues) to delegate the monitoring of facilities to citizens groups, and to outsource operation and maintenance and possibly the provision of mobile toilets to a private agency would mean that a clear strategy of communication is required between these actors. A possible structure could be:

Figure 2: Structure of responsibilities and communication during festival times in Alandi. Draft: A. Zimmer.

The Permanent Task Force oversees all activities during the festival. The main responsibility for maintaining cleanliness and a hygienic environment lies with the 14

Sanitary Guards in the Wards and the Citizens Vigil Groups. During regular meetings once or twice a day they coordinate which tasks need to be taken up by the contracted agency. The Sanitary Guard communicates these tasks to the Manager, and routinely reports to the Task Force which activities have taken place. Citizens Groups take up the monitoring process in the wards. If the Citizens Groups finds that a task has not been taken up to its satisfaction, it first complains to the Manager. If this complaint is not addressed, the Group complaints to the Permanent Task Force which then requests an emergency report from the Manager. Institutionalising communication channels and clearly allocating responsibilities in such a manner could then significantly enhance coordination between the Temple Trust, the MC, Panchayats, private operators and citizens. Infrastructural issues The town clearly has insufficient infrastructure to meet the demographic challenges especially during the two major festivals, besides the pilgrims who just have to spend very few days at the pilgrimage often compromise upon the inapt facilities of insufficient sanitation, poor quality of water supply, degraded river ecosystem etc. The issue of funds limitation with the Municipal Council is restricting them from building new infrastructure to provide services to the citizens and pilgrims and blames Government of Maharashtra for it. Besides several projects have not been completed because of insufficient funds with the council, like the River beautification project and the sewage treatment plant The temple trust on the other hand is only concerned about the infrastructure within the temple premises and is pretty satisfied with the existing infrastructure. As a result of the lack of infrastructure certain environmental hazards have been observed because of open defecation and indiscriminate solid waste dumping. Besides degradation of water resources (Indrayani River) and diminished quality of life has also been resulted by the same issues. Looking at the infrastructural issues at Alandi a mix of different technical solutions of combined sanitation system, which includes both toilet system and treatment facilities is required, along with software strategies to support the project implementation and ensure sustainability. It has been widely seen that robust infrastructure provision needs to be supported by effective software strategies. There are various examples where mere provision of infrastructure support has not yielded desired results and led to under- utilization and bad operation and maintenance (O&M) of the facilities. Based on the number of pilgrims expected in Alandi town and considering their behaviour and nutritional habits during the two major festivals Aashaadha (8 days of constant influx of pilgrims in June / July) and Kartik Ekadashi (3 days of constant influx of pilgrims in November) the number of toilet facilities can be estimated. Under the assumption that each pilgrim needs to go to toilet twice a day and uses the toilet for about 5 minutes and also considering that the main time of usage is early morning, and early afternoon the required number of toilets can vary in a wide range of 4.000 to 10.000 toilets. As there are certain unknown influencing factors a detailed assessment should be undertaken. Also it is recommendable to start the implementation in a small scale in order to gain experiences. Constant evaluation and monitoring is needed to adopt the assumptions and systems accordingly. Due to the limited available space within the city and around the temple, as well as around the arrival zones and sleeping areas, a combination of different technical 15

solutions could be suggested. Different toilet facilities have been recommended for both inside as well as outside the city where pilgrims stay in temporary tents during two major events.
Toilet system and treatment facilities outside the city centre:

The technical solutions suggested are based on the ground realities in terms of availability of land, financial resources, human resource, existing capacities etc. The solution proposed are properly managed defecation Defecation Fields fields for the time of the festivals. After the Organized open defecation in a festival there field enclosed with fences to should be a complete removal of the ensure privacy. Trough like polluted top soil using patterns is made within these fields, where people come and trucks and machines. The waste collected defecate in small pits. This is then should be mixed enclosed with mud and later with other organic waste and then collected by trucks. aerobically treated (Ex. composting) the compost can also be used for forestation programs. As per rough estimate 100 staff and 10 supervisors will be needed. Toilet system and treatment facilities inside the city centre and around the temple area: Anaerobic Co-Digestion with Organic waste in a multi-storey sanitation and waste management building where waste will be treated in a biogas plant. The same building could also be used as service buildings after the two major festivals get over. The human resource that will be required for the operation and maintenance of this system will be 50 staffs, 5 supervisors and 1 manager. Mobile toilets inside the city will also be required which need to be properly managed and strategically placed in several hotspots around the city centre (see Photo XXX). These can be used at other similar occasions at different locations and thus makes best sense to be outsourced to a service company. The waste collected from the proposed mobile toilets will be treated in biogas plant in the multi-storey toilet and waste management buildings, explained above. The operation and maintenance of the mobile toilets will require 100 staffs, 10 supervisors and 2 managers.

16

Photo 1: Mobile toilets in Alandi (Photo: J. Staeudel).

Besides, it is equally important to have trained sanitation workers deployed at the key locations helping and facilitating pilgrims to use mobile and community toilets and avoid using open areas on the river bank for defecation. Work also needs to be done on mobilizing the community and creating awareness through various information, education and communication (IEC) tools. The idea behind awareness creation and community mobilization is to expand the role of citizen groups where they not only demand services from the municipal council but also take collective action to maintain and sustain the initiatives taken by the council. The most important component will be facilitating the operation and maintenance of community toilets through citizen sanitation committees. Several challenges might come underway while solving the infrastructural issues like the challenge of maintenance of infrastructures and dedicating responsibility for the same. Social challenges like acceptance of toiler infrastructure by local people, changing habits also needs to be taken care of while implementing the solutions. Moreover, there are also possible challenges in execution like providing the skilled labor and lack of reasonable accessibility from the nearest city, Pune.

Conclusion
To conclude the analysis, the case of the pilgrim town Alandi presents a case of pressing sanitation problems that create major health hazards for residents as well as pilgrims, impact the environment negatively, and thus, lower the quality of life in the town. In order to address these issues, the most important step will be the creation of ownership amongst those stakeholders who actually have the mandate and the moral responsibility to contribute to sustainable solutions, i.e. the Municipal Council and the Temple Trust. 17

References
Alandi Municipal Council (2011): Development Plan of Alandi (Dewachi)[Second Revision]. Proposed land use plan of Alandi town.[Map] Ecosan Services Foundation (no date): Alandi Town Profile. Pune. Interviews conducted on 14th September 2011, Wednesday, with i. The Opposition Party Leader ii. Mr. Godbale, Executive Engineer, Alandi Municipal Council iii. Representative of the Revenue Collection Department, Alandi Municipal Council iv. Mr. Chopdar and Mr. Mahesh, Alandi Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Temple Trust Members v. Ground level staff of the Alandi Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Temple

2. Magarpatta Township, Pune

Context

The township of Magarpatta is located in the southeastern part of Pune, adjacent to Hadapsar area. It caters to a resident population of 33,000 within an area of 434 acres and also one of Punes biggest IT parks, Cyber City. The Magarpatta Company manages the township which was created through pooling the farmers landholdings together. The novelty of the idea is that the farmers received Photo 2: View inside the township shares in the company proportionate to the size Photo: J.Studel). of the land they owned. This ensured that the farmers benefitted from the subsequent value increases in the land in the later stages of the development. The township is governed by the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act 1966. The key features of the act is Minimum size of the township: 40 ha (400,000 m) Infrastructure development (roads, street light, water, power and drainage) and maintenance to be carried out by the developer 50-60% of the land should be allocated for residential areas, 20% for open space, 10% for civic uses (educational and health institutions), and remaining for commercial spaces (see Photo 1) Solid and liquid waste has to be treated within the township premises by the developer; reuse of treated sewage for gardening or other non-potable purposes The Sustainable Habitats Summer School III has selected Magarpatta Township as a case study to carry out a sustainability analysis with respect to environmental and social parameters.

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Environmental Sustainability 2.2.1 Solid Waste Management:

Primary collection From households Segregated collection of dry and wet waste Secondary collection Dry and wet waste collected in separate bins and transported in a segregated manner to treatment/ disposal site Treatment Various treatment technologies like vermicompostin g, refuse derived fuel, etc Disposal Dumping of non degradable waste either in open dumps, landFills; reselling of recyclable material

Fig. 1: Ideal steps of solid waste management (Draft: A. Immanuel)

Figure 1 depicts an ideal scenario of solid waste management within an area. While each of these processes takes place within the Magarpatta Township, monitoring of the quality of the services undertaken is not carried out appropriately. The following shortcomings could be identified: a. Lack of segregation at the household level: Although the township has a vermicomposting treatment plant, segregation of waste at the source/household level is not practiced. This results in unsafe practices of manual sorting of waste with workers having to sort the recyclables from heaps of garbage collected at the treatment plant. b. Lack of maintenance of the biogas plant: Though a biogas plant was constructed with a generation capacity of 270 electric units, it was not working well. The generator system was not maintained well, with installation of exhaust gas system, filters, etc. missing.

2.2.2 Wastewater Treatment:

Photo 2: Layers of algae are visible in the pond of Inadequate treatment of the treated wastewater (Photo: J. Studel). wastewater: There is a sewage treatment plant for the wastewater generated in the township. However, only the grey water (sullage) is treated, and septage/sludge is collected separately by vacuum trucks and disposed in the municipal drains. Moreover, the treated grey water is let into the municipal drains outside the city adding to the load of the municipal treatment systems. The lake adjacent to the treatment plant has a lot of plant and algae growth indicating that there are still too many nutrients in the water (see Photo 2). 19

 2.2.3 Public Transportation:

Huge dependence on individual transportation: Initially the township had planned for and constructed public bus station points. However, as the citys public transport was not allowed inside the township, residents of the township had to rely on the school buses plying at select times to the city center and other areas outside the township. Presently even this service is not available as the bus timings were not convenient to the residents (early morning and evening), and service was discontinued. This has resulted in almost all the residents having to own personal vehicles, either two or four wheelers. A public transportation system, for example through the plying of electric cars, would be much favorable.

2.3 Social Sustainability

2.3.1 Farmers Ownership Landowners remain in control: The township presents a positive example of social sustainability in that the original landowners were not dispossessed as in other cases of urbanization of former rural areas. Rather, the farmers still own parts of the land (as the commercial buildings are rented out) and most importantly are the 100% shareholders of the company which runs the township. Continuous financial gains are thus guaranteed. Downward accountability: The relationship between residents and company The company cannot be held accountable: Politically, Magarpatta township is ruled by the Municipal Corporation of Pune and elects Municipal Corporators to that body. In terms of administration, however, the area is serviced by the Magarpatta Company alone. This creates a number of concerns from the point of view of social sustainability. Firstly, the political representatives have de facto no power over the area, so they do not consider the township a substantial vote bank and subsequently do not interact with their voters to the extent they would do with other constituencies. Secondly, the citizens do not have any power over the de facto administrators of their area, and the company has no legal accountability in terms of service provision. Although the residents of Magarpatta Township have formed various committees, these citizens groups can only recommend changes and cannot actually participate in implementing changes. Also, they are not allowed to acquire shares in the company which substantially lowers their influence on the company. Thus, residents live in a political and legal grey zone. Upward accountability: The relationship between company and Pune Municipal Corporation Although the PMC is the political body for the township, it does not seem to have any monitoring power over the company. This results in a situation where the quality of civic services remains unchecked by the democratically elected representatives of Punes citizens. Problems such as the ones pointed out in section 2.2 (wastewater treatment) therefore remain unaddressed by the company. 20

Social inclusion and responsibility: The relationship between the township and Pune Gated communities as models of exclusionary urbanism: Magarpatta township is a typical example of a gated community with a surrounding fence and entry control which separate it from the rest of Pune city. Restricted access is permitted to outsiders, while large parts are reserved for residents and their guests. Residents and workers have to carry ID badges and stickers on their vehicles to get access. This model of housing is socially highly exclusive in itself. Moreover, property rates are obviously within a certain range so that the social groups that can become inhabitants of the township are restricted. Urban poor will not be able to pay rent here, let alone acquire property, thus being in fact excluded. Since the Photo 2: Workers are township model is spreading in Pune, it might be feared segregating solid waste that in the future, the middle and upper classes will reside without protective gear in (Photo: J.Studel). policed and segregated gated communities while the rest of the city, with public services of questionable quality provided by the city administration, will be inhabited by poorer sections of society only. The residents, satisfied to find that most of their needs can be fulfilled within the township, recounted that they hardly leave their area. In the long run, this might lead to a lack of ownership of residents with respect to issues that concern Pune city as a whole. Lack of social security for workers: Sections of the urban poor seem to be engaged in cleaning and solid waste handling activities as employees of the company. These workers, too, do not live in the township, but rather commute to their workplace from outside. Moreover, it was observed that workers were mainly of old age and worked without protective gear, such as gloves etc. (see Photo 3). No proper ventilation of the vermi- composting area was installed so that health risks to the workers might ensue. Workers are not allowed to form representatives groups. These observations lead to recommending that the company should allow Trade Unions so that workers can voice their legitimate demands for social security and other concerns. The company should offer an old age pension to all its workers, provide the necessary protective gear, and also provide health checkups and insurance to its workers who perform high risks tasks such as handling solid waste.

2.4 Conclusion
To conclude, Magarpatta township is an innovative idea which seems to meet a positive respond in Punes housing market. It is based on the laudable idea that former farmers should benefit of urbanization processes as owners and shareholders of the development company. However, certain concerns of environmental and social sustainability arise which should be looked into before up-scaling the model. Most importantly, two points come up: First, clear mechanisms of monitoring by the Municipal Corporation should be made mandatory. Second, residents need to be included in decision-making in a regular and institutionalized way, for example through the election of a representative to the companys board of directors.

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Urban Sustainability : A case study of Mysore

1.Introduction
Mysore city, the capital of Mysore district, is the second biggest city in the state of Karnataka, with an area of 128 km2 and a population of 1 million people (census 2011). Mysore district is one of the largest districts in Karnataka. It is located 135 km from Bangalore, the State capital. Mysore is a Heritage city and also famous as a pensioners paradise. It is an educational, commercial, administrative centre and important for tourism in the State. Mysore city is rated as the second cleanest city in India as per Ministry of Urban development Sanitation Ranking Report in 2010. Institutions involved in the governance of the city are mainly Mysore City Corporation (MCC) and Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), governing 65 wards by elected corporators for each ward. Mysore is one of the tier-two cities (class B) identified for comprehensive urban planning and renewal under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Currently it is in the process of becoming a solar city under the National Solar Mission. MCC had formed a JNNURM cell under which developmental projects have been undertaken for project implementation at city level. Aside from that, the city is undergoing rapid processes of urbanisation and globalisation like many other cities in India. Within this context, the group tried to explore how these processes are changing the face of the city. It looked into various initiatives, both governmental and private and assessed to what extent these are sustainable, if at all. Questions that guided the action research of the group were: A) Understanding the contribution of small and local initiatives and projects to the progressive urban sustainable development. B) Trying to compare the governmental initiatives and the local private ones to enable the research to understand the differences, similarities, problems, and linkages. The topical framework consisted of three focal points for analysis Policy, Governance and Implementation. Looking at the three topic areas as a two-way approach (top-down/bottom-up) enabled the team to fit observations, achievements, and experiences into the framework and pose questions considering the observations. Participants of the group are: Tine Trumpp, Satyendra Singh, Mahmoudreza Khalili, Reva Prakash, Paulose N Kuriakose, Bhuvaneshwari Shivaraj, Darpan Vaishnav, Swati Sulagna, Annika Mayer. The Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable

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Technologies at the National Institute of Engineering (NIE-CREST), Mysore mentored the working group from 10 September, 2011 to 17 September, 2011. The principal resource person for the group was Mr. S. Shamsundar, Director, NIE-CREST.

2. Aspects of Sustainability in Mysore

During the research process, which was focused merely on energy-efficiency in the beginning, the focus was shifted towards a broader perspective on urban sustainability. It became obvious that a holistic approach towards sustainability is more suitable to understand the current situation and processes in Mysore. The team looked at eight topical areas, namely energy-efficiency, rural-urban dynamics, urban heritage, disaster management, food sustainability, housing, regional planning and water issues and analysed them within the two-way framework.

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 2.1 Energy Efficiency (Sources: MCC, NIE-CREST) Mysore is slated to become solar city under the National Solar Mission 2008. On the fronts of energy efficiency the city has a range of examples right from small scale implementation of energy saving initiatives like biogas plants to policy level mandatory schemes like Bellaku Yojana complying to which the government gives 80% subsidy on 5 CFL bulbs per household. The policy structure proposed for energy related issues for urban as well as rural areas is a pyramidal structure. At the base is the generation of awareness for the conservation of energy and moving upwards with energy efficiency efforts and the promotion of subsidized renewable energy at the apex of the pyramid. Other projects and schemes at housing and infrastructure levels include decentralized zero waste management, mandatory installation of solar water heaters on all new constructions having area larger than 213 m2 and also mandatory solar lighting system for all the common spaces for all new multi-storey buildings. At the city level, the Solar City project indicates flaws in the selection of city for the project. The sole guideline for selection on implementation level is the mandatory generation of 10% of the total energy requirement of the city through renewable energy technology. It does not focus on scientific basis like usable peak hours of the total solar insolation as well as geographic and climatic conditions such as soiling and atmospheric aerosol levels in and around the city. At governance level, the city is selected for this project on its own analysis of handling capacity during implementation. There is a national bidding process for assigning the task of carrying out the implementation. NIE-CREST, which was the local bidder, lost the tender to Darashaw, a Mumbai based company, leaving diminished scope of involvement of local experts in the process. There are scattered examples of energy conservation as well as renewable energy in Mysore. Biogas plants have been installed at NIE-CREST, Bapuji Childrens Home as well as at Kaliyuva Mane, a rural school for informal learning. But the one at Bapuji Childrens Home was not maintained and hence not functional. This brings out the finding that such decentralized renewable energy plants need maintenance as well as ownership. NIE-CREST develops and promotes energy efficient and renewable energy technologies. With few exceptions, the majority of these technologies are applicable in rural settlements rather than urban. But modification, integration and most importantly, scaling up of the ones that are applicable to urban areas could bring down the energy usage of a city on the whole. In accordance with the National 24

Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), which is one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), it is necessary to upscale the efforts to create and sustain a market for energy efficiency. Approaches towards this statement appear altogether absent, as most of the policies as well as projects in Mysore are scattered and lack crucial linkages. 2.2 Rural-Urban Dynamics (Sources: MCC, MUDA, Gyan Ganga Housing Society and ODP) Attention must be paid to the outer urban regions of Mysore as conversion of land from agricultural to housing and commercial spaces is in process and the city is likely to grow further during the next few years. Bangalores rapid expansion would add to the stresses on the Mysores fringe areas due to the pressure through private builders and big real estate companies. On the one hand, inadequate livelihood generation from agriculture acts as a push factor for the rural-urban migration, on the other hand aspirations for acquiring urban lifestyle and higher education act as major pull factors for cities. Concerning the governance structures, the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) is responsible for the area under the delimited boundaries. Outside these boundaries, Gram Panchayats are the responsible body for development in the rural areas. Besides this, Mysore urban development authority (MUDA) is the legal body which prepares the city development plan. Comprehensive regional planning in the fringe areas suffers because the plans between the builders and MCC are not made in conjunction. During our research, we discovered that the development within urban fringes, which are actually in rural jurisdiction, is especially critical due to the weakness of Gram Panchayats. Influential builders often manage to buy land from farmers, which is later converted into residential land through a series of premedicated measures. Given the social factor of land divisions among siblings, agricultural landholdings become too small to be viable. Furthermore, this provides an opportunity for farmers to gain a considerable sum of money. A smaller part of the farmers migrates to the city, but a major part buys a site of land further afield. Managing considerably larger landholding sometimes creates problems of handling the land. Increasing financial pressure from relatives and friends also complicates the situation. A lot of farmers end up losing the acquired land in 3-4 years time. By multi-facetted empowerment of the rural poor, the NGO ODP (Organisation for the Development of People) works on the structural rural problems that may result in migration to nearby urban centers. With a staff of 150 people they work with approximately 2000 groups and approximately 35,000 people. Awareness generation about the Gram Panchayat programmes, along with support for participation in the

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local planning process is part of their work mandate. Their vision is to build up to 80% of rural participation and making sure that this big voice is heard. Though these efforts are crucial, much more work has to be done in this respect. 2.3 Cultural Aspects of Sustainability Mysores built heritage (Sources: Dr. J.V. Gayathri, Deputy Director, Archeology Mueseum and Heritage Department, MCC Heritage Cell. Mysore City Development Plan, JNNURM) Urban heritage plays an important role for both the identity of the local society and the economic development of the city. If conserved properly, it helps to create a sense of ownership in people and helps bolster the local economy by creating job opportunities. Although it was mentioned much earlier, todays Mysore, also known as the cultural capital of Karnataka, was historically mainly shaped by the Maharaja of Mysore and the British, which is the reason that there exist a lot of heritage structures in the city. Ongoing development and urbanisation processes have also put considerable pressure on the citys urban heritage. The situation in terms of the protection of Mysores urban heritage is very difficult. There are till now no legal tools in place which ensure and regulate protection of heritage buildings. From 2005 to 2008 there used to be a heritage committee under MCC consisting of 14 to 18 members, which included government officials and non- official experts. This committee did a listing of heritage structures in Mysore which is currently continued by MUDA, whereas numbers of the listed structures vary between 199 and 222. In case of development and building activities at a heritage building or in its environment the committee monitored the situation and reported to the MCC about it. It also proposed to have proper legal regulations, which are pending since 2004. At the moment there is no action plan in Mysore for the protection of heritage buildings, no bylaws and no legal hold. The national heritage policy of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is not applicable in Mysore, as none of its heritage buildings is in ASIs list of monuments of national importance. The next Master Plan, which is currently under preparation, is going to include a chapter about the handling of heritage, but it is still in the preparation process. The City Development Plan under JNNURM outlines the strategy for conservation of heritage buildings. However, to what extent the plan gets incorporated in the Master Plan

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and then implemented, remains open to question due to lack of expertise on part of the city corporation. There are two positive initiatives regarding urban heritage in Mysore, one at the local level and one at the international level. A local company called Royal Mysore Walks is offering heritage walks to give an insight into the citys heritage and an introduction to Mysores history. The aim is to create awareness for tourists as well as for the local community. Mysore is a part of the IHCN (Indian Heritage City Network), a programme by UNESCO, which has the aim to promote and support the physical, natural and cultural heritage as well as crafts and creativity as driving forces for urban development, and the generation of employment for balanced socioeconomic and cultural development. 2.4 Disaster Management (Source: MCC and MUDA authorities, Dr. Vishwanath, Administrative Training Institute) Disaster preparedness is one the major aspects that contribute to the overall sustainability of a city. Disaster risks in India are further compounded due to the increasing population, the vast disparities in income, rapid urbanisation, increasing industrialisation, environmental degradation, climate change, etc. which question sustainability in future. Mysore in recent past did not have major disasters, hence both the Government and local people were found to be less cognizant of any disaster risk. Mysore city is classified under seismic zone II, which is safe but in past earthquakes of 4.5 ritcher scale has been recorded. Fire has been part of Mysore history. The present Mysore palace was rebuilt after the wooden palace was burnt down during the marriage ceremony of the then prince. Recently, one of the slums was burnt down rendering dwellers homeless. Hence, any development of infrastructure needs to take care of disasters happening in future. In India, disaster management issues are governed by Disaster Management Act, 2005. According to this act disaster management authorities are set up at national and state levels and every district needs to design a disaster management plan. Mysore District administration has prepared a DDMP (District Disaster Management Plan) to face any disaster in the systematic manner and they have developed institutional mechanisms in the district administration to take the necessary action. Furthermore, a disaster management plan is in place for KRS dam and heritage city. The extend of their implementation remains questionable. Urbanization brings its own problems, one of them being fire management. All the multi-storied buildings need to fix fire extinguishers and maintain it in working

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condition in order to get clearance from urban development authority. JNNURM supports infrastructure development, if they are made more disaster resilient, losses in future can be reduced. However, the implementation reality leaves much to be desired. During the field work, government officials showed indifference to any measures of disaster risk reduction and did not consider it to be an essential need right now. Similarly, NGOs were not very active about this issue. A shift in the policies is needed by orienting towards preparedness rather than relief. Better awareness among the citizens as well as sensitizing the local administration to these issues are needed. 2.5 Food Sustainability: Organic Farming (Source: Ahar Butti Womens Group, Organic farmers) Food sustainability forms one very important component of urban sustainability. Around 40% of the carbon emissions come from the food sector, and there is also a high level of chemical concentrations in the food products. Food sustainability is a question of adequate food availability along with finding sustainable methods of production and distribution. Decentralised organic farming addresses the two problems by firstly decentralising the production and reducing the distance between the point of production and point of distribution. Secondly, organic farming uses limited or no chemical inputs for farming. This solves the problem of higher concentrations of chemicals in food products that are biomagnified and have harmful effects. Kanana, the four acre farm we visited is located in Mysore district, 15km from Mysore city. The farm was started and is now managed by six families collectively. The products are used for personal consumption and value added products are distributed and sold at six organic outlets, together with products from 20 other farms across the Mysore district. The shops were opened in order to make the concept of organic farming financially viable. A related womens-group, Ahara-butti, is involved in making the value added products. The management of the shops is taken care by the families and eliminates the problem of middlemen that usually pushes the prices of products. Over time the number of regular consumers have grown from 20 families to more than 1000 families. The initiative was due to the personal motivation and belief in the concept of organic farming by the six families. The families consist of engineers involved in working on energy efficiency and other sustainability sectors. So it is totally private and was not initiated due to some government policies or subsidies. The organic products are sold 10% below the market price. The logic is that with no or limited amount of inorganic input, the cost of the production of organic food can be reduced. However, the products from the normal farms are cheaper because of the subsidies provided by the government to the farmers for fertilizers, pesticides and seeds.

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 If the organic farming model is to be adapted as a sustainable model for agriculture then the financial viability of the model from small farmers perspective needs to assess. 2.6 Regional Planning (Sources: MCC and MUDA authorities) The conceptual and theoretical framework of planning reveals that planning is used to control the changes that occur in human settlements and to use future changes as opportunities. Regional planning with all its components, in turn, is considered as a planning method for larger scales of urban and rural areas including several human settlements. The scope of regional planning concentrates on the equal redistribution of resources among the settlements located in the same region. The balanced distribution of human activities as well as economic opportunities in a spatial basis, aiming at reducing environmental impacts of those activities is another scope of regional planning. Broadly speaking, regional planning contents deal with demographic, economic, transportation, and land use issues which could lead the process of planning to sustainable urban and regional planning and development. Mysore deserves the capacity of conscious further developments to gain the first place amongst Indian cities in terms of energy efficiency, urban health and sanitation, and clean water supply. The field research in Mysore City proved that the process of urban development has been always conducted through a citywide Master Plan giving an overview of further city development. Interviews with the city authorities concluded that there is no regional planning scheme in the region. This means, the development linkages between Mysore City and its surrounding areas do not exist. Therefore, issues such as fringe areas development and land use transformation out of city borders cannot be controlled and intervened by any development plan. The interviewees also proved the existence of conflicts among municipal city corporation and Gram Panchayat authorities responsible in rural areas. This conflict makes the situation worse and makes both authority bodies not to have the willingness to develop any regional development policy bilaterally. Making the situation even more critical, the top-down model of Indian restrictive urban development system gives no room to the urban development plans to vary based on the cooperative and participatory schemes. This model imposes a non- flexible planning approach on the cities authorities, depriving them of revising development plans and of thinking about having multilevel development system. Regarding the problems found in the case study e.g. critical changes of land use in outer city of Mysore and in its agricultural fringe lands, it is highly recommended that the municipal authorities revise the development planning frameworks and the political possibilities in order to draw up a regional planning scheme in cooperation

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with Gram Panchayat authorities. This gives them an opportunity to deal with the rapid changes in land use in fringe areas to minimize environmental hazards as well as the risk of having urban sprawl, with low physical infrastructures in urbanized fringe areas, in the near future. 2.7 Housing (affordable) (Source: MCC and MUDA Authorities) Housing projects have been taken under JNNURM. Four housing projects are sanctioned involving 10,770 households. Of the proposed households 3,414 houses are constructed and the remaining houses are under construction. Today, the MCC perceives this estimation is less by 2000 houses. As per our research framework we investigated the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), Slum Free City Plan of Action (SFCPOA) at Policy, Governance and Implementation level at Mysore. Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has identified 81 slums of which 62 slums are notified and declared while 19 slums are unnotified. Under curative measure, MCC has taken up 2 pilot projects at Indira Nagar and under preventive measure, MCC has surveyed and estimated potential slums and identified 16,400 housing shortage. Indira Nagar Slum located at Yadavgiri (near to city centre) with 100 households which is under implementation, was considered for the action research. It is resided by a migrated Tamil community and has an area of approximately 2000 m2 with approximately a population of 610 persons. The houses are arranged in row with a clean pathway of 3-3.5 meters wide and poor infrastructure facilities in terms of water and sanitation. The existing housing units are of varied area from 360 sq ft (12X30) and above to 240 sq ft (8X30) with poor housing conditions in terms of roofing. JNNURM cell under MCC has proposed redevelopment below insitu redevelopment under curative measure with private developer participation for Indira Nagar. The project includes vertical construction of 208 houses (64% of built up area [BUA]) of 257 sq ft (25 m2) of which 122 units are for slum dwellers (22 households for slum dwellers living in joint family in the existing small housing units), 86 units are sale component and horizontal development of commercial space of 36% BUA for private developer to sustain the project. The financial component of the project includes 50% contribution from the Central Government, 40% contribution from the private developer and 10% participation from the slum dwellers. Curative measure includes in-situ upgradation, in-situ redevelopment and resettlement. MCC has considered in-situ redevelopment in the proposed slum. Insitu redevelopment includes the demolition of the whole slum and the redevelopment of the slum area. Indira Nagar slum is located on Government land

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(land comes under Mysore Urban Development Authority). The redevelopment process will also include transit1 housing. In the process of redevelopment, with the supply of serviced land, better homes and infrastructure, the slum dwellers loose their sense of identity, existing open spaces, community spaces and many more. From primary interviews and group discussions with the slum dwellers it is understood that the slum dwellers are not briefed about the proposed project. There are many confusions and aspirations built around the proposed redevelopment by the dwellers while the government has looked into this development model only in terms of monetary aspects without considering the soft aspects from the slum free framework guidelines. From this case study, it is found that the officials involved in the project are not fully aware of the dynamics proposed in the guidelines. Slum free action plan is becoming a money making lobby or a land grabbing project in the process of promising better livelihood. The decisions taken from the beginning/shortlisting to the completion of the project is on priority basis from the higher authorities or people in power and not by and for the people. Stakeholders participation is considered only at a superficial level. 2.8 WATER SUPPLY (Sources: MCC, MUDA, MGP) Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has a population of roughly one million, which is expected to grow to 2.1 million by 2031. In order to tackle the growing water demand, MCC in cooperation with MUDA and KSUIDC is undertaking two projects under JNNURM-program to revamp and remodel the existing distribution system while ensuring ambitious 24x7 water supplies. MCC has started the ground work to provide 24x7 water supply schemes in the city. This will be implemented in collaboration with JUSCO in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Presently, there are 710 bore wells and about 123,000 connections (126 000 households) with 85 000 metered connections. Under the JNNURM project about Rs 95 crores are spent to augment and improve the water supply network and to set up a new 180 mld water treatment plant. Despite all the spending, as per the observations, some wards are facing a water crisis and getting water only once in 2-3 days during the summers. The management and operation of water supply is outsourced to a third party (a company called JUSCO) but all the important decisions regarding tariffs and new connections etc. are made by MCC or concerned authorities.

Transit housing for 500 people far from existing location with a budget of 4 million rupees has been proposed.
1

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Investigations are made on present status of water supply in Mysore city with respect to demand and supply with growing population. The available water distribution system in Mysore is more than one century old and at present MCC Supplies 195 Million Liters of Water per day (MLD) out of which almost 45 percentage of water is lost through leakages and illegal tapping/faulty meters and MCC has not taken any initiatives to tackle the issue of unaccounted water. Theoretically, almost 150 liters per capita should have been available but in reality water still remains a problem in some wards. The lack of proper monitoring system has made the problem complex and multifaceted even more compounded with illegal practices to provide water connections without meters. Investigations on how water supply projects were formulated. Mysore falls in scheme B under JNNURM financing model. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for new projects under JNNURM is made without having detailed surveys and GIS map though a reference map was available which was based on manual survey of existing water supply line mainly installed about 90 years back by then Maharaja. Proposed 24x7 water supply scheme in triggering a strong debate which none of the stakeholder is able to clarify and results in rise of vested interests. Concerned authorities have contradictory views on whether 24 h water supply is needed in the given situation. No defined regulations and tools for water usage and monitoring are part of the project. Even, 135 lpcd standards are being questioned as how much water is being used in Indian cities. As per MCC, efforts are made to ensure water supply and put a strong system in place to ensure fair water tax collection, minimize the wastage and identify illegal connections. These efforts have yielded some positive outcome but people still have doubts about JUSCO, as it is seen as privatization of water. Current Pricing mechanism is lopsided and gives opportunity for misuse and water wastage. A proper metering of water distribution connections and fixing of judicious pricing are very necessary to collect the capital expenditure and operation and maintenance cost. Water supply connections to the new residential flat complexes are also unbalanced because there is no effective water usage monitoring at each apartments. A lump sum amount is collected from each complex. Detailed consultation is needed with the user end side: Interviews with residents and NGOs revealed that, 3 to 4 hours of continuous water supply would be fair enough for the city than providing a 24x7 water supply. An agency like Metropolitan Water Distribution Authority can be created for planning and implementation and total management of water supply in Mysore Urban Agglomeration. This team should be equipped with supportive technical man power and latest technologies in water distribution management.

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3. FINDINGS/FRAMEWORK

Tackling the water leakage issue should be given higher priority for saving the public money. Supervisory control mechanism should be created using advanced SCADA systems at ward level.

3.1 POLICY Besides a general lack of political willingness to promote sustainable development, and a planning system that is reward based and directive, there are various more issues at the policy level, which create a situation in India that is unsupportive to achieve urban development in a sustainable way. One major problem is the general lack of understanding or a missing integration of the concept of sustainability on the policy level. And, in addition, policy making is purely a political process, which is not sufficiently based on technical or scientific knowledge. The fact that policy frameworks of expensive projects like Solar City as well as 24x7 Water Supply for Mysore City did not account for certain critical technical aspects, which may decide the sustainability of these projects, exposes this finding. Instead of using technical reasoning and scientific findings as a basis for decision-making, city branding and image building plays a larger role in the selection and distribution of urban development projects. That often leads to a waste of resources and insufficient extraction of potential, which is in contradiction with the concept of sustainability. The Mysore city 24x7 Water Supply project is an example of that, as in case of successful implementation, Mysore would be the first city in India with 24 hours water supply for every household. Also the selection of Mysore to be part of the Solar City project, which is located at the national level, reflects this idea. According to the geographical location and climate conditions, solar insolation in Mysore (3,2 peak hours) is not par with other areas in India, for example Gujarat (5,9 peak hours), and the puts the efficiency and effectiveness of the programme into question. When it comes to decision-making processes on the policy level there is still a hierarchical structure in place, which, with its top-down approach, refuses to take the knowledge and expertise from the local level. For example in the case of Solar City project, there is no integration of local organisations and experts in the decision making process. Contribution of local experts is only possible by advocacy on voluntary basis. Regarding the planning policies, there are problems on different levels, which are of spatial as well as temporal kind. According to the Mysore Urban Development Authorities (MUDA) official, there is no multilevel planning approach but only a master plan for Mysore city, which is subject to intervention whenever a problem comes up in the city. This means, another detailed plan would be prepared for the

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problem areas in the city based on the needs. It also means that there is no development planning scheme at regional and spatial levels dealing with fringe areas of the city. The transformation of land in those areas outside the city and the problems it creates in a long-term based observation shows also this shortage. The other problem found out through the interviews was that there is no integrated urban planning as well as urban management system, leading the development approaches not to be sustainable. Existing development control regulations do not lay down conservation measures for heritage buildings. This has led to demolition of many heritage buildings in the past. Unbalanced floor space index followed in the current Development Control Regulation (DCR) creates vehicular pressure on existing road networks. Due to increased pressure on roads, authorities are planning to remove the trees and widen the road networks. Another problem is unbalanced subsidy policies on commodities and services. For example, it is desirable for sustainable development, to promote subsidies on renewable energies. In order to make the most out of these subsidies, reducing the subsidies on conventional energy sources is also required. Contradictions in water management is also evident in Mysore City Corporation, for example the existing development control regulation mandates the construction of rain water harvesting structures, but at present Municipal corporation is making arrangements to provide 24x7 water supply. When there are 24x7 water supplies who will take initiative to adopt sustainable measures like rain water harvesting and ground water recharging structures. Pricing policies for urban services are often insufficient for their proper implementation in terms of sustainable development. For example, in the case of 24x7 Water Supply project in Mysore City some believe that increased water prices would automatically lead to a decrease in water usage. A more general problem is the lack of mandatory policies in many sectors or, missing implementation of national policies to the local level. In the case of Mysore city, for example, although mandatory on the national level, risk assessment studies are not taken up in case of planning of urban development projects. Also the compliance towards ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) is applied on voluntary basis rather than mandatory. And even if there are mandatory policies, like for example Bellaku Yojna (Compact Fluroscent Lamp (CFL) Lighting Scheme), decentralised zero waste management, installation of solar water heaters and solar lighting system in common spaces of multi-storey buildings, their implementation in terms of a holistic sustainable development is difficult because of lacking linkages. Missing linkages are found for

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example between the sectors of water and sanitation, slum redevelopment and housing as well as energy and housing. In case of housing there has been a holistic policy covering city level approach on the provision of housing needs. But due to duplication OF DEPARTMENTS FOR similar SECTOR there HAS been CONFUSIONS OR MISMANAGEMENT at the project level. Another major linkage that is missing is between the policy and the implementation level. Presence of a good policy alone cannot be taken to guarantee right implementation of development projects in the city. 3.2 Governance At the governance level we found, that besides some best practice examples on an individual basis, there are a lot of issues that lead to a situation, which makes the implementation of the concept of sustainability into urban planning very difficult. One major issue is the lack of coordination both internally within departments and between various administrative agencies. Especially when there is no cooperation amongst administrators or administrative agencies much potential is lost. That is obvious in the case of housing sector institutions like MUDA , MCC), Karnataka Housing Board, Slum Clearance Board and Ashraya Yojana. All of them are involved in the process of promoting better livelihood through construction of housing. With reference to RAY(Rajiv Awas Yojana) there was no coordination between the departments to make Mysore a slum free city. In the case of heritage conservation MUDA is the authority to identify the list of buildings to be conserved, while MCC is responsible for implementing the conservation projects. Through our primary interviews with the authorities it was found that there was mismatch between the total numbers of the heritage buildings given by MUDA and MCC. Missing coordination can also be found between technical staff. Even though technical expertise is available in the urban local bodies of MCC and MUDA, there is limited coordination between the engineers during the implementation of the projects for supervision and technical inputs. Furthermore there is a lack of coordination between decision makers and sector experts. The ambitious project of Mysore Solar City under National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) has been more a political decision than a thought through strategic project in reference to the Mysore climate. Instead of framing a detailed project analysis and initiating a pilot project under Solar City Development it has

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been proposed to implement at a large scale without the consensus of local sector experts. Solar City Project has become a status symbol rather than a beneficial program to make the city sustainable. Another example is the implementation of inventions in the area of renewable energy technologies at NIE-CREST (National Institute of Engineering- Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology). Although the development of these technologies is happening, there is lack of political willingness to scale up these projects and transfer them at higher levels. Overlapping responsibilities is another major issue. It was found that in the development of the rural-urban fringe institutions like MUDA (agglomeration) and Gram Panchayat share responsibilities for development. Due to this there are overlapping responsibilities in acknowledgingthat the irregular growth of fringe areas leading to conversion of agricultural land into different land use. This leads to land grabbing irregularities and poor spatial planning and also to the existence of more difficulties in implementing the master plan reservations for fringe areas. Unsupportive conditions for sustainable urban development is the lack of technical and management competency within ULBs. Under the JNNURM-programme, the government has undertaken multiple projects as water supply, housing, KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation), ring road, etc. To prepare and process detailed project reports the technical expertise are taken from external consultants instead of taking it from local experts because there is not enough technical manpower within the institutions. With this lack of expertise it becomes difficult for the authorities to evaluate the accuracy of the detailed project reports and also implement the same. Participation is missing on every level, in the area of policy-making, implementation and also on the governance-level in terms of decision making processes. We found evidence for this within the project of 24x7 Water Supply for Mysore. From personal interviews and group discussions with locals and Community Based Organisations, like Mysore Grahakara Parishat, it was shocking to know the decision making process during the project development. Findings revealed that decisions were taken before consulting the stakeholders. In the stakeholders meeting which was held within one hour, the authorities presented the final project details without opting for suggestions by the beneficiaries and sector experts. The participation was limited to tokenism by the local authorities. Another example for missing participation in decision-making is the case of the slum Indira Nagar. It was selected for the pilot project under phase I of slum free city project. Two stakeholder meetings were conducted where there was no participation from the slum dwellers or transparency from the implementation body.

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The government authorities proposed the development methods of the project without giving awareness to different possibilities as provided in the framework. During our interaction with the slum dweller it became clear that there was no proper understanding of varied components of the project. In Indian bureaucracy there has always been a top-down approach for the dissemination of information and power. This directed top-down approach in government hierarchy leads to very limited consideration on the technical capabilities and ability of the officials in the culmination of project and decision making processes. In the case of 24x7 water supply, though there are many effective technologies with reference to water supply and sanitation already implemented in many places, these have not even been thought of at Mysore corporation. Cadastral map using GIS technologies could have made the project more sustainable and successful. This has not been looked into as the senior level officers are not aware of these competitive technologies. Lack of awareness is also a problem at the governance level, especially the missing awareness among administrators. One example here is the case of risk assessment. The respective administrators were found to be not aware of whether risk assessment studies to different projects have been done before their initiation. When asked, they disposed the issue as not necessary and irrelevant in present concepts for Mysore. During our interaction with the officials at JNNURM cell, MCC, it was found that the officials implementing the RAY scheme were ignorant on the other options proposed by the guideline. Only the In-situ Redevelopment involving the private developer has been explored to be implemented rather superficially. It is essential to update or build capacity on new schemes and policies at the ULB (Urban Local Body) level. 3.3 Implementation India has promoted many schemes and policies under different sectors to sustain and improve the quality of life of the people. Policies have been promoted with a holistic approach and broad perspectives that can be integrated within the given framework at the local governance by the urban local bodies, Nagar Panchayat, Local Self Government etc. Yet, time and again we have come across several problems in the area of implementation. Few of the issues identified from our case studies at Mysore are as below: Lack of Peoples Participation One of the major problems is lack of peoples participation at the implementation level. There are several reasons for failure at the ground level which can be considered with two different perspectives. On one side people are not fully aware about their opportunities to participate, on the other side complete participation is

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not supported sufficiently by government officials. The procedure of implementing national and State policies are few of the examples. It is mandatory in most of the policies to put up for stakeholders conscience and approval for any projects from respective government agencies. The information regarding the project is uploaded on the website/local media of the agency in order to invite suggestions/inputs within a given period. It is found from the personal interviews and group discussion that some of the JNNURM projects were approved without significant modifications/inputs as there were very limited/negligible comments within the given time period. Similarly 24x7 water supply scheme was approved with increased tariff as there were no objections from the stakeholders side or the local community. It is also the case is, often stakeholder discussion meetings are held during working days which results in fewer turn-ups impeding the participation. Lack of Awareness and Capacity Building One of the major problems in reaching sustainable urban development in the area of implementation is lack of awareness and capacity building on different levels, within the local community as well as within official authorities and implementing bodies. Under Slum Free City Plan of Action (SFCPoA) the municipal cooperation provides adequate housing for the urban poor at Indira Nagar. But the slum dwellers were not certain about the supporting infrastructure (basic amenities like schools, primary health centers etc) to be proposed along with vertical housing that are included in the redevelopment plan. Moreover slum dwellers were unaware of the other options given in the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) for developing in situ solutions. Because of this ambiguity Municipal Corporation is trying to take financial help from private builders. Unfortunately private builders give more importance to profits than the actual development of urban poor. The slum dwellers mistook the commercial area which is for sale by the government to be developed for them. Lack of awareness was also exhibited by the waste collectors. Already segregated waste from door to door collection is mixed up by the collectors at the dumping point as they are not clear what to do with the segregated waste. Information and dissemination of knowledge is not fast and updated due to lack of training and support along with modern technologies. The available executive body is over burdened with implementation of various projects. Hence, technical manpower at the governance is inadequate to meet deadlines resulting in delayed project implementation. Total Lack of Monitoring

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Case studies specified in the exemplary examples are currently implemented on ground of which none of the projects were not regularly monitored eg. JNNURM projects. Proper social auditing of projects is not done for any of these projects. Lobbying for Vested Interest One aspect which opposes and blockades development in a sustainable way is lobbying for vested interest. For example, in 24x7 water supply projects at Mysore was opposed by the water-supplying tankers association as their business may be affected by this scheme. Few pockets in the city get priority for development over others as they are major share of vote bank or have influential political leader. Improper Implementation of Participatory Schemes One of the active NGOs complained that even though they participated in all the meetings held on JNNURM the issues they advocated for were never included in the final implementation. The implementation plans were always pre-drafted and these meetings were only an official procedure. Ownership One general issue, which makes the implementation of policies and integration of the concept of sustainable development into urban planning difficult, is the question of ownership. Ownership is associated with the sense of place of its citizens. Due to increasing migration into the city there has been a lack in taking initiatives in developing and maintaining the city in a holistic approach. There need to be more community development initiatives to bring people together and make them participate in city development process.

4. Inference

It can be inferred that there are healthy and inclusive policies, which target the improvement in the quality of life of citizens through holistic approaches. Nevertheless weakness in policy formation can be stated into two different aspects; 1. Policies have been framed with broad perspectives for the overall development which have been overlapping with other similar policies. 2. Policies are not proposed in continuation to the previous framed policies in the sector; every new policy starts from a new front rather than in continuation from previous framework. With every new policy there is an increase in the overall burden on officials in the local bodies due to limited number of manpower and increasing workload leading to negligence in implementation. Every new policy brings the need for new committees to draft new structure, development and perspective plans to carry forward the projects. Generally, officials concerned with other projects would be deputed to undertake the implementation of the new projects. Added to this there is a wide gap

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in the knowledge required in terms of subject understanding and technical efficiency with modern technologies. The current trends of capacity building to the officials have not been fully successful due to limited learning time-period and lesser learning capabilities of the officials after years of field experience with limited exposure to other exercises. Projects fail to accomplish the objective of policies due to lack of awareness and participation from the beneficiaries at the implementation level. There is a comprehensive evaluation required at all the 3 levels; Policy, Governance & Implementation; for sustainable development of the city in a holistic way.

5. Suggestions

Analysis from our findings from project investigations at all 3 levels are as follows: 1. Policies to be linked in reference to energy conservation and sustainability in existing policies 2. Unification of agencies/authorities/institutions according to the needs of the project and city development 3. Regional development agencies to be formed to maintain the overall development of the total agglomeration 4. Massive public awareness programmes to be designed on different aspects of development emphasising the energy efficiency and sustainability components 5. Aggressive capacity building programmes should be undertaken at technical (engineering) and technological measures for various aspects of urban governance 6. Transparency and accountability to be monitored at different stages of project development 7. Stringent implementations of the proposed Development Control Regulations without succumbing to political pressure

Sources:
Mr. S. Shamsunder, Director, Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology, National Institute of Engineering Mr. Suresh Babu, Superintendent Engineer, Mysore City Corporation (MCC) Mr. M.N.Kumar, Town Planner, Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Mr. Bhami Shenoy, Founder, Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) Mrs. Hariprasad, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat Mr. Francis, Organisation for the Development of People (ODP) Mr. Ramesh Kikkere, Organic farmer Mr. Rajeev , Builder, Gyan Ganga Housing Society (GGHS) Ms. Suma, Ms.Manujla, Ms.Radha, Ms. Shashi, Members, Ahara-Butti. Alok and Anant, Students, Youth involved in concepts of sustainable living. 40

Urban Sustainability Case Study of Kochi, Kerala

(Group Members: Aditi Madan, Devottama Banerjee, Hassan Abdel Aziz ElMouelhi, Jyothilakshmi. R, M. S. Pankaja, Mehdi Javadi, Parisa Shahmohamadi, Ranit Chatterjee, Shiva Shadravan, Somdeep Nandi)

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude towards GIZ DAAD for providing us with the opportunity of being a part of the three week long Summer School on Sustainable Habitats India III at Pune, Mysore and Kochi. We express our sincere thanks to Dr Regine Schoenenberg, Dr Regina Dube from GIZ along with the team of BVIEER headed by Dr. Erach Bharucha for their unrelenting support and inputs provided during the Summer School. We are thankful to Mr. Esakki Raj & Mr. Ramesh Nair from the partner organization GIZ Environmental Cell, Kochi for their assistance in arranging the field visits for action research as well as for interviews and meetings with the officials. We are grateful to the representatives of Kochi City Corporation- Honorable Mayor, Secretary, Deputy Mayor and the Chairman of Standing Committee for their valuable time, support and inputs. We are indebted to Councilor of Ward 26, Greater Kochi Development Authority, Kerala Water Authority for their inputs and cooperation which helped in formulating the research report. We would like to place on record the significant contributions made by representatives of NGOs like Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, Kerala Builders Forum and Plan@earth for their valuable inputs, support and cooperation in the extensive effort that went into the data collection process. We would also like to acknowledge all the respondents without whom this research would not have been possible and who have been parts of this endeavor directly or indirectly.
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Abstract
Kochi is the first Bin less city of India, which has seen rapid urbanization in the past five years. A city with high religious tolerance and multi cultural background has developed with growth of investment by software firms and NRIs in housing and other infrastructures. The geographical location of Kochi makes it susceptible to urban flooding and is the situation is aggravated by poor sewage and solid waste management system in the city. The long leftist rule in the past has given more power to the community through Mayor who is the elected by the people. The city hosts JNNURM and KSUDP projects with support from central government state government and foreign donors. The political ideology of the ruling party has played an important role in implementation of the project along with factors weak monitoring, lack of coordination, overlapping of roles and less participation and inclusiveness of NGOs and CBOs. The study tries to asses the present condition of Solid Waste Management and Sanitation in the Kochi and highlights the critical factors and analyzes them with in a framework of urban sustainability and good governance indicators to crate a roadmap for crating an index of future priority of interventions.

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 Sanitation and Solid Waste Management problem in Kochi is a Lifestyle and Economic growth problem by Shri K. J Sohan (Ex-Mayor of Kochi Municipal Corporation)

INTRODUCTION
The city of Kochi in the state of Kerala is a green strip of land located in the south west corner of India. Kochi, originally known as Perumpadappu Swaroopam, is the beautiful cosmopolitan city of Malayalees. It is one of the Indian states having the highest Literacy rate. Rightly known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, it has attracted many voyagers and traders over the centuries. Kochi, the commercial and industrial capital of the state of Kerala, is where ancient civilization gracefully mingles with modern life. The geography of the region mainly consists of lowland along the seaboard and the city lies barely two meters above the sea level. The region has a tropical humid climate with an oppressive hot season and plentiful seasonal rainfall. The average annual rainfall is 3431.8mm. Ports linkages to different industries like Oil Refinery, Cashew, marine, Tourism and ship building are extending from their genesis to progress. Fort Kochi became a Municipality on the 1st ofNovember1866. According to the 2001 census, Kochi Corporation has 650,000 residents. The total area of the main part of the city is 94.88 sq.km. The urban sector in Kerala comprise of five Municipal Corporations and 53 Municipalities. 25.97% of the population lives in urban areas. Kochi witnessed a rapid population growth during the past 30 years. The average decadal growth in Kochi Corporation is 7.83%. In the next two decades the population of Kochi city is expected to touch the mark of 2 million. Rapid urbanization of Kochi and suburbs are leading to pollution and ecological imbalance. The pressure on infrastructural facilities and core sector services is severely felt not only in Kochi but also in the nearby Municipalities and Panchayats. As per Centre of Studies in Cultural and Heritage of Kochi (CSCHE), the urban poor are the worst hit. Solid Waste Management (SWM), which is an obligatory function of the Urban Local Body
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(ULB), is in a pathetic state resulting in problems of flood, water logging, mosquito menace, sanitation and environmental and health related problems. The sewerage system in the Corporation of Kochi is maintained by the Kerala water Authority. The scheme was commissioned in 1970. A comprehensive Sewerage Project for Kochi Corporation was envisaged dividing the Corporation area into four different zones and dividing each zone into different blocks. The scheme as envisaged to cover the entire 94.88 sq.km could not be implemented fully. Government of India has taken an initiative to develop and create economically productive, efficient and responsive cities under Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission. Kochi has been selected under above mentioned scheme.GIZ (German organization)has been providing technical support to JNNURM in the Environmental aspects. The schemes under JNNURM are ,(i)JNNURM water supply scheme and JNNURM sewerage scheme to Kochi city (ii)Urban transportation(Enhanced bus service) and (iii)Basic service for urban poor(BSUP) JNNURM proposes that there should be a tie up amongst the partner organizations. Accordingly, Kudumbashree a women Self Help group (CBO) which is promoted by Government of Kerala is associated with Kochi Corporation in the citys solid waste management programme. NGOs like CREDAI (confederation of real estate development association of India), Plan@earth and residents welfare associations have also come up with best practices with solid waste management. RATIONALE In India Management of Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) continues to remain one of the most neglected areas of urban development 1(Kurian 2002). Millennium Development Goal and National Urban Sanitation Policy thrusts on Solid Waste Management and Sanitation as a

Joseph Kurian 2002: Perspective of Solid waste management in India : International Symposium on the Technology and Management of the Treatment & Reuse of the Municipal Solid Waste, Shanghai,China, 2002
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priority area for the urban areas. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) funded by World Bank also has the same sub mission. JNNURM Project in Kochi is focusing on four areas primarily are Housing Development, Infrastructure Development, Common Facilities Development, Livelihood Development. The various project components under the JNNURM as implemented in Kochi area are Solid Waste Management, Water Supply, and Sewerage, Basic services for Urban Poor, urban transportation and Tourism. Along with this Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP) project also focus on sanitation and Solid waste Management in Kochi. It was learned from various discussions and reports that only 5% of the Kochi city has a sewage line and the dumping site and Sewage Treatment Plant built under JNNURM in Brahmapuram is not functional from February 2011. The area selected is a low lying area and has posed lot of operational problems in the past. The whole system of Solid Waste Management has got plagued with the problem of non-availability of land for garbage disposal in Kochi. Also, the city has been declared as a Bin- less City, hence apart from the tourist spots, there are no garbage bins to be found within the city. In light of these, the study tried to focus on Solid Waste Management and Sanitation as key areas and asses the present condition in the city. The final report tries to look at the stakeholder linkages, the power dynamics among the various actors, the gaps in implementation of the process and recommendation to cap the gaps. The findings have been analyzed with the framework of urban sustainability and good governance indicators. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The main aim of this qualitative study (action research) is to get a better understanding of the urban performance situation of Kochi. Putting hands on the weaknesses in Governance System in relevance to Urban Sustainable development aspects (economy, environment and socio- culture) Finding the gaps and linkages between different stakeholders

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Finding the different problems in urban management and the way they are related to eachother. Finding the potentials observed in Kochi upon which the good governance and urban sustainable development could be achieved. PROBLEM TREE Growing concern for future of cities and for well-being of city dwellers, stimulated by trends in world urbanization, the increasing number and size of cities, and the deterioration of many urban environments, has focused attention on the problems of living in the city. Solid Waste Management is the major problem which was addressed during this research in Kochi. The acceleration of urban construction, buildings & replacement high of rises of and urban traditional houses with modern deterioration many

environments in the last 5 years have caused many challenges for the city. Also, according to the growth of economy and technology in cities, people require a modern life, especially for the touristic cities like Kochi. Therefore they have tried to change their lifestyle and adapted themselves to the new life. This change in the life style affects not only the environmental aspects but also the social and economical aspects. DATA COLLECTION

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This research applies two sections of data collection; one is secondary data collection and second is primary data collection as shown in Figure 1.

Fig -1 showing the types of data collection for the project

1. Secondary Data Secondary data collection for this research has been based on literature review. The literature review forms part of an important process of conducting research in which it serves to propagate the formulation of the research problems as well as identify the boundary of knowledge. The methodology of conducting the literature review was highlighted to emphasize on the importance of identifying and formulating the problem of the research. The methodology used for secondary data collection has been classified into two types mainly: 1) Internal sources: this research used some organizations, corporations, stakeholders and NGOs data which gather, record, and store internal data such as KSUDP Corporation, CREDAI and Plan@Earth; 2) External sources: this research used governmental sources (JNNURM, KSUP, Reviewing Reports ), books (Kerla development control roles, codes and by-laws). 2. Primary Data This research applies quantitative data collection strategies like: 1. Observing and recording well-defined events; 2. Obtaining relevant data from management information systems; and
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3. Administrating surveys with closed-ended questions (face-to face interviews).

Image: Face-to-face Interviews Image: Data collection

DATA ANALYSIS Low coverage of organized primary collection system There is no organized program to encourage, support, and sustain such community initiatives for door to door collection and to replicate them. There is no linkage and regular communication between Kochi MC and the community. In the area where doorstep collection is organized, secondary collection and regular removal is not properly synchronized Open and exposed system of secondary storage Overflowing secondary collection points spread all over the city, irregular removal and consequent backlog are serious issues. MC has only a marginal coverage of container storage facility and the rest are open ground level / bins secondary storage facilities. The transfer of waste from the major centers requires scraping from ground and manual loading. None of the locations are provided with concrete /asphalt pavement and drainage facility Irregular collection and multiple handling and backlog in transportation The total generation is 420 tons /day (MC estimate) and about 169 tons/day reaches the municipal stream. Though the estimated generation is high and realistic values may be less,
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backlog exists and is one of the concerns to be addressed. Absence of proper routing and time schedules, time consuming manual loading, open transport, mostly single shift operation low productivity are associated issues Improper choice and Ill-designed Vehicles and Equipments The box type hand carts used for collection of street sweeping require multiple handling of waste. Hence direct transfer of waste is impossible resulting in ground transfer and further handling leading to ground contamination and low productivity. Secondary collection vehicles introduced require lifting of waste overhead resulting in cumbersome and time consuming loading Manpower Productivity MC has 857 workers to serve a population of 613,325, in addition to 350 door step collection workers. The productivity of MC workers is around 200- 250 kg per day and the manpower is sufficient enough to manage 172-214 tons/day. The current productivity is at the lower end and hence needs to be improved by minimizing manual loading systems and two tier street sweeping Vehicle productivity 39 vehicles are in operation on a daily basis transporting 169 tons productivity of 4.30 tons /vehicle. Considering the long haul distance to current disposal site (less than 12 km from any part of the city), the productivity is low. Lack of regular maintenance of equipment and vehicles The vehicle availability is only 60 percent in general. Efforts undertaken to improve collection system by introducing specialized refuse handling vehicles refuse collectors, side bin loaders and dumper placers failed to sustain the programs due to lack of regular repair and
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maintenance of equipment and vehicles. The system has gone back to manual loading and multiple handling. Community/NGO /CBO and private partnership The success and sustainability of Solid Waste Management would depend on building meaningful and effective partnership with community, NGOs and private entrepreneurs. Municipal Corporation has no organized efforts to develop partnerships especially in roping in the non-domestic users Weak Institutional setup The Solid Waste Management operations pay little attention to integrated management approaches based on adequate information systems, decentralized responsibility and technical and environmental requirements Absence of trained and skilled staff, elaborate job descriptions and delegations, clear operational procedures, inter disciplinary interaction and co-operation, management information system for effective monitoring, evaluation and planning need to be addressed. Financial and economic level Cost recovery is not built into the present Solid Waste Management operation of Municipal Corporation, which is mainly dependent on revenue from Municipal Sanitation Taxes that are low and need to be supplemented by general revenues. Environmental and Health issues The backlog and delay in clearing waste in the tropical climate leads to decomposition and breading of pathogens. Manual loading without protective gears, and burning of waste are heath risks to workers and neighborhood inhabitants. (Few Residents Associations managing the system have set apart a part of the fee collected for repair and maintenance of primary collection vehicles and for providing uniforms and protective gear to the collection crew. Urban Characteristic Analysis

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Kochi city urban characteristics show the diversity of that city and how it functions (residential and commercial) and port as well as the economic standard variation could be noticed in different wards and streets (villas, high-rise apartment complexes). Touristic area of Fort Kochi has also a unique urban fabric and historic monuments.

Image: High rise Buildings Image: Villa

City Urban Analysis

Through different urban analysis based on the observations and the previous reports some findings and gaps could be identified.

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 Connectivity: Although there is continues railway connection and national highway between eastern part of the city and the Willingdon island, a weak connection is observed between the Willingdon island and Fort Kochi.

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Solid Waste Collection: Since the major role of eastern part of the city and Fort Kochi is related to touristic activities, centralization of solid waste collection is only in these two islands. Although the Willingdon Island is the industrial and restricted naval area, the lack of solid waste collection points can be observed in the non restricted zones.
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 Slums Sewer: According to the observation, black and gray water of slum areas in Kochi pour out in the canals and the Arabian Sea. By comparing the locations of the Slum areas to the locations of the open defecation zones, it can be observed that almost maximum percentage of the slums defecate in the open

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areas. Therefore the necessity of public toilets in these areas is evident. It is also advisable of the touristic areas to have more toilets.

Stake Holder Analysis The urban sustainability stake holder analysis for Kochi City gives an understanding of the linkages of the various actors who play and important role in determining the efficient implementation. Detail understanding of the linkages of the actors through focus group discussions leads to identification of the role and responsibilities of the agencies and also the need to address the overlapping areas. The flow diagrams given below links the various stakeholders involved and also the power dynamics between them. On the basis of this understanding a table is prepared to bring in a clear understanding about the capacities and responsibilities of these stakeholders. The gaps are analyzed on the basis of field data to finally evolve an index to mark the involvement level each stakeholder in the process. This will help in focusing on the stakeholders who should be prioritized for capacity building process.

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Fig -2 showing between stakeholders Sanitation in linkages various for Kochi City.

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TABLE -1 STAKE HOLDER ANALYSIS FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT AND SANITATION Stakeholder State Government of Kerala Interest Capacities /Responsibilities Overall development of State infrastructure Issuance of Governmental regulations for implementation Missing links Level of Involvement Medium

Kochi Municipal Corporation

Elected Representatives in each ward

Kerala Water Authority

Builders Association Academic Intuitions

Only has monitoring power and has to rely on the implementing authority th Under 74 Authority to make Has not created constitutional rules linkages with amendment Kochi Availability of Academic Municipal Funds institutions, NGOs Corporation is an Collaboration and corporate autonomous with international urban actors local body for the development of the city and directly responsible for all kind of developmental and planning activities in their Municipal area jurisdiction. Development of Influence the local Vested interest the respective authority in and vote bank areas for support infrastructure politics development and new projects Apex body for Has state support Overlapping of Water and and project roles and Sanitation for the management responsibilities State team with local authority Real estate, and Regulation of Profit making profit from land infrastructure development development Identification of Research Acting as separate needs at various units level

High

Medium

Low

High

Low

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Consultants

Outsiders without Medium proper understanding of the local conditions Non Social economic Close to Working in small High Governmental and community and pockets Organizations environmental understand their Act as unorganized development concerns sector with no External funding apex body and not from international supported by govt. funding agencies and corporate International As a supports to Funds and human Channelization of Medium Funding Agencies the State resource the fund to the government as an local authority and understanding low monitoring with GoI Community Support the local Understanding of A profit based High Based Authority in the local model not Organizations development conditions and developed and community employment is mobilization temporary Resident Welfare Welfare and Influence No direct Linkage High Associations management of households in with the local (RWA) respective areas High rise and also authority links to other CBOs Corporate As a part of CSR Funds available Linkages with local Low authority missing. Working through few NGOs Private Waste Business Vehicles and Has no direct Medium collection Human Resource connection the contractors local authority .O&M of vehicles Community Better living Elected Indirect Access to Low conditions representative decision making from each ward in and no social corporation auditing

Solution orientated

Experts Human Resource

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 SWOT ANALYSIS

Environmental Aspects The positive factor of the city is the awareness towards recycling procedures of wastes and various technologies in composting. If this is continued over a period of time then the occurrence of health hazards would be reduced. During the field visits it was observed that the secondary transportation of wastes were mostly done in open uncovered trucks, this may lead to environmental health hazards and shows the inadequacy of infrastructure for transportation purposes. Apart from this, open incineration of garbage was also

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prevalent which in future might result in greenhouse effect, increasing the ambient temperature and destruction of natural resources. Socio- Cultural Aspects An exceptional quality of the state of Kerala is that the literacy rate is almost hundred percent, so it makes people aware of the recycling concepts and methods and its positivity. Media plays an important role in the state and it should be utilized to the maximum extent to create further awareness amongst people. Kochi comprises of people from various sects, this shows that they have to potential to adopt to various types of

cultures. In addition, it has also been observed that religion play an important role in the society, so this can be utilized to create awareness regarding Solid waste management. Due to the transition in quality of life, a significant change in behavior, attitude and lifestyle of people can be observed. Although the city is extremely rich in resources, still a gap in its suitable utilization and a lack of sense of attachment of the people towards the city can be observed. Being a Bin-Less City the wastes generated by the floating population is not properly disposed, this may in due course of time lead to pollution and as a result there can be health hazards.

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Image : Posters displaying health hazards

Image: Adverse effect of Bin-Less City

Governance The administrative section, Corporation and NGOs showed their willingness towards development in the field of Sanitation and Waste Management. NGOs are functioning actively in generation of awareness programs and also take initiative in field projects. There is a rule, as per which 2% of the Property tax collected from individuals is utilized for waste management, on one hand this shows good governance is present, on the other hand a lack of proper management in pockets could be observed. The centralized plan is inadequate and a lack of enforcement of laws and coordination could be seen. This generates gaps amongst the various stakeholders; it might result in the insufficiency of planning, implementation and monitory measures and a loss of interest on the part of NGOs, Public Private Participations and CBOs. Economic Aspects The city of Kochi has the potential for Foreign Direct Investments due to increasing demands and hence an ample of external funds is being made available. But due to inappropriate budget management, not enough funds are allocated to the Operation and Maintenance Sector. The waste management process requires a lot of human resources and opens up opportunity for the employment of people from the urban areas, urban fringes and rural areas, resulting in the enhancement of overall economic condition of the city. The waste management program, also being

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supported by private organizations (example; ITC) utilizing a part of the non biodegradable waste generated by the city. Also, the contingency funds are not taken into consideration while preparing the budget for the project.

RECOMMANDATIONS AND FINDINGS

Good Goverenance Indicators Transparency Gaps/ Results/ Findings Community are rarely informed about the decision making process and hence projects are not demand driven. Information is not freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement. No study done to show the impact of the project Absence of structured public participation, either direct or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives, in preparation of development plans resulting in negative outcome. Academic Reccomendations Impacts on Sustainable development This will bring transparency and bring the bottom up approach eventually strengthen the social sustainability.

Social auditing for transparent information distribution process to establish a sound feedback mechanism

Participation

Consideration of local stake holders in articulation of decision making process of development plan. Promoting public participation and public awareness by employing media, religious entities, NGOs, local agents, etc. Incentive for research for solid waste management and sanitation in Kochi to

Public participation in all levels of preparation, ratification, implementation and modification of the urban development plans and projects would result in more realistic projects that reflects the most urgent demands and enjoy full support of the people as end-
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strengthen the stakeholder involvement from academic domain (universities, research institutes, etc.). Rule of Law Following the sound implementation of the existing rules and regulations Inclusion of best practices in local policies Administration is biased with the Taking measures to connect political ideology several aspects like migration, solid waste management, transportation, health, education and sanitation at the core of urban planning, meaning that all of them shall be included in the different development plans Inclusion of hazard risk and vulnerability analyses for selection of project areas Adaptation of efficient land policy in favor of biodiversity, greeneries and green spaces Responsiveness The institutional Stepping forward from sporadic and ad hoc planning linkages between to longer term plans (strategic stakeholder is planning) weak Due to absence of Capacity Building of the local decision makers as well as proper monitoring managers, implementers and mechanism the supervisors through technical response from the and vocational training courses end user about the on the very urgent points implementation of the project is ambiguous to government

institutions, NGOs are not involved directly in the project. NGOs initiative is also not impartially targeting all sections of society

users By employing mechanisms to make the decision makers and policy makers responsible toward the rule of law, the identification of the real problems, translating them into plans and ultimately sustainable projects within a fair and impartial legal framework would be possible.

Processes try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable time frame establish the social justice to end user and economic justice to intermediate stakeholder involved in project implementation process.

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Sound response from the stakeholder involved in the project implementation process is absent Some city officials are not well equipped with the expertise, needed for preparation of the development plans as well as identifying the urgent problems and the ways to tackle them Consenus orientaded Decisions are made mostly in absence of public participation. Hence the consensus development mechanism is faulty. Some of the Stakeholders from the endusers and beneficiary side could be deprived from the information about future development of their ward as well as the other part of Sound mechanism for mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad consensus in society on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved. Incorporating local knowledge and system in the project Translation of international good practices into local concepts by employing local characteristics like social capital Establish a project-oriented funding mechanisms for creating sustainable city at the local level

Well trained urban management staff with the updated knowledge to tackle city problems would be an asset which makes the realization of the projects possible

It would result in a broad and long-term perspective on what is needed for sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development. Equity, which ensure that all its members feel that they have a stake in it and do not feel excluded from the mainstream of society, regardless of their gender, or caste. Eventually

Equity and inclusiveness

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Accountability

Effectiveness and efficiency

the city, due to gender, caste, or class . One point fund chanelization restrict access of other stakeholders. There is a lack of accountability of different stakeholder, due to overlapping of the roles and responsibilities; Sound internal self sustained financial mechanism (tax collection) is weak. Lack of technical expertise with in municipal officials. Land reclamation depleting the mangrove cover and marine bio diversity. The bin less city concept is not functioning as planned.

strengthen the inter and intra generational equity and social justice.

Demarcation of clear roles and responsibility of each department, officer and stakeholder

Accountability address the time-lag of the projects and help in institutionalization of the project which address the economic and institutional sustainability.

Technical capacity building and training needed for preparation of the development plans as well as identifying the urgent problems and the ways to tackle the solid waste management and sanitation problems, which are threatening the biodiversity. Decentralization of Sanitation system. Intervention in the sanitation system upgrading could be based in some wards on the currently existing systems, may be by improvising some technical solutions for better efficiency. Provide bins in the different city areas.

These processes and institutions produce results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context of good governance also covers the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment. Clean city

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 Team Members

Aditi Madan : Project officer, Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, Ahmedabad; aditimadan@hotmail.com Devottama Banerjee: Pursuing M.Tech, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur; devottama.banerjee@gmail.com Franziska Meinzinger: Hamburg Wasser, franziska.meinzinger@hamburgwasser.de Hassan Abdel Aziz ElMouelhi: PHD Student , TU Berlin; hassan_mouelhi@hotmail.com Jyothilakshmi. R: Assistant professor and PhD student, Department of Mechanical engg,M.S.Ramaiah
institute of Technology,Bangalore, Vishvesvaraya technological university,Belgaum, Mysore; jyothirswamy@gmail.com

M. S. Pankaja: Assistant Director of Town Planning, Mysore City Corporation Mehdi Javadi: PhD Student, TU Berlin; javadi.de@gmail.com Parisa Shahmohamadi: Postdoctoral Student, TU Berlin; shahmohamady@hotmail.com Ranit Chatterjee: Project support associate, UNDP India disaster reduction cell; ranit13@gmail.com Shiva Shadravan: PHD Student, TU Berlin; shivashadravan@gmail.com Somdeep Nandi: PHD Student, NUS, Singapore, School of Design and Environment ,Centre for sustainable Asian cities; ar.somdeep@gmail.com REFERENCES Integrated Solid Waste Management Project for Kochi- detailed project report by Eco Save Systems (P) Ltd. Waste Management: Indian Scenario by Dr. Rajaram Vasudevan, Mr. George Mathew Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project, Volume II, April 2007 by Local Self Government Department, Government of Kerala, Asian Development Bank Waste Management in German Financial Cooperation: An introduction Wolfgang Pfaff- Simoneit KfW Entwicklungsbank by Competence Centre Water and Waste Management

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V. Policy Analysis:
This part of the research has investigated through policy analysis exercise under the lenses of the concept of governance and sustainable development; and has come out with following seven key issues: conflicting policies and lack of integrated plans; institutional structure; system of fund allocation and budgeting; lack of capacity; public participation; monitoring; and urban rural continuum. Conflicting Policies and Lack of Integrated Plans: The action research has identified the absence of an integrated plan addressing holistic aspects of urban sustainability; it has also noticed the conflict between different parallel development plans addressing a common problem. The plans are prepared at different levels by different institutions. For example, Master Plans are prepared by Urban Development Authorities, City Development Plans (CDPs) are prepared by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) addressing the same issues, such as sanitation, housing, water supply and so on, with different objectives leading to conflicting and overlapping policies. Institutional Structure: The decision making mechanism under the current institutional structure is ambiguous. Sometimes same issues are looked after by different institutions without a structured coordination and communication between stakeholders. This incoherence eventually results in delay of projects and financial losses. For example, in most of the cities slum and housing issues are looked after by different agencies like Municipal Corporation (MC), Urban Development Authority (UDA), Slum Clearance Board (SCB)/ Slum Improvement Board (SIB) and Housing Board (HB); however they are not interlinked. As a result when the projects are implemented there will not be positive outcomes. In addition to that, the institutional mechanism is not transparent and accountable. Hence, the governance structure is weak in addressing the goal of holistic urban sustainability. System of Fund allocation and Budgeting: There are no specific criteria for the allocation of funds to targeted people. Fund allocation is dominated by the political bias, and based on vested interest the fund channelize to some ward where it is not required. The social acceptance and social demand is also not prioritized. Usually Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) depend on the central/state grants and external funding (e.g. World Bank, Asian Development Bank and so on) to implement different development projects, without developing an internal 68

strong financial mechanism; however, municipalities collect several taxes (e.g. Property tax, entertainment tax, advertisement tax Trade license fees, tax regarding building and so on). Even after collecting these tax ULBs are not able to meet the huge capital investment for various projects. For example, the property tax collection mechanism, which is the main financial source of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), is also not effectively addressing the entire target group. Lack of Capacity: The ULBs are suffering from lack of skilled manpower with technical competency. Since, the number of available manpower is not adequate, the single officer is overburdened with several responsibilities. For example, according to the Institute of Town Planners India (ITPI), there are only 3000 registered planners available for 7200 urban areas. As a result public organizations usually outsource projects to external organizations. Usually the external agencies from some cities try to use or replicate their prototype plan for other cities, without understanding the difference in the urban fabric of different cities. In addition, due to lack of manpower the tax collection is not efficient, eventually which force the ULBs to go for external funding. Moreover, the responsible person holding the authoritative position is also not technically sound and is frequently transferred. Most of the time recruitment procedure is biased towards political interventions rather than the academic and practical expertise . Public Participation: The relevance of the public consultation process to urban sustainability cannot be ignored. It is widely acknowledged that effective public participation could augment public acceptance of various policies relating to urban sustainability. Roberts1 (1995) highlighted that the public consultation process should be pervasive at every stage of a project, for example, in initial planning, action planning, implementation and post implementation. In many urban systems, community participation is neglected in the initial planning stages, but such early involvement is important so that organizations become aware of the target groups pre-knowledge about the issues pertinent to the projects. This will enable organizations to assess the hostility, apathy, unity and strength of motivation of the community which could affect the subsequent implementation process in the form of local opposition and campaigning against the choices favoured by the specialists (Roberts, 1995, Carbias et al2, 2003), and active support for the policies. In Indian urban development mechanism ULBs only involves the bureaucrats, politicians and sometimes NGOs and academicians. The transparency between common people and government is ambiguous. The user and affected population are rarely considered Roberts R., 1995. Public Involvement: From Consultation to Participation. In Vanclay, F. and Bronste, D. A. (Eds), Environmental and social impact assessment. Chichester ; New York : J. Wiley 2 Carabias, V.; Winistrfer, H.; Joos, W. et al., 2003. Assessing and Improving Social Compatibility. In Ludwig C et al. (eds.) Municipal Solid Waste Management. Berlin ; New York : Springer
1

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together under the umbrella of public participation. On the other hand the ULBs fail to create awareness for public participation. In addition to it NGOs add to existing problem instead shorting out the complication. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reviewing: Absence of proper monitoring and periodic review mechanism both for short-term and long-term impacts of urban development projects is the key finding of our research. The impact during the project implementation stage and operation stage, which comes after the project completion, is also not considered significantly. It is observed that eventually, due to lack of proper urban sustainability indicators, the actual sustainability scenario is still not clear to decision makers. As a result all of these incoherent measures have resulted in unexpected outcomes, and have failed to meet the holistic goal of sustainability. There are no exit policies for government projects with clear guidelines to create ownership. Urban Rural Continuum: At present the urban fringe areas are facing the problem of land use changes. Due to lack of proper spatial and regional planning regulations, builders and speculative buyer grab land from the peasant community to develop a township or commercial areas. In these speculative buying processes the actual farmers sell out of the land and move away from the urban periphery. These speculative buying of the fringe land without considering the land use allocations sabotages the provisions in the master plan. Current Land Acquisition Act does not take care of the proper compensation for the land. Only under the Transfer of Development Right (TDR) mechanism sometimes farmers get justice for their land acquisition.

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VI. Conclusions
This report has tried to deal with some urban sustainability issues in India, especially in Pune, Mysore, and Kochi. Definitely, it is ambitious as well as challenging to reach to a comprehensive view of current important problems, and even more, the solutions. The following list has categorized our findings and some proper suggestions for Indian cities. The listed suggestions deal with three main stakeholders in cities. Moreover, these contain some action that can be done without prerequisite, and some infrastructure activities. Institutional level: - Revising the administrative structures and power dynamism to provide more decision making capacity to establish good governance; - - - Empowering the institutions with educated and skilled manpower; Having environment authority in ULBs Integrating Techno-legal regime in the decision making

Implementation level: - Preparing the proper integrated and holistic regional spatial planning and development control regulations - - - Having short-term and long-term strategies for monitoring, evaluation and reviewing Having software and hardware strategies for adequate socio-cultural and techno- legal mechanism. Considering the social & financial feasibility of the plans in terms of affordability

Socio-cultural level: - Empowering the community-based organizations, CBOs. These institutions can control all urban affairs in the cities and criticize the misused and the improper activities. - Raising public awareness. It can be useful from different point of views. They realize their duty and right for the city. It helps citizens to increase quality of life. Public awareness regarding sustainable development could be accomplished through religious institution based mechanism. Media should be involved for awareness generation for sustainable development. Integrating education, addressing the crucial issues of sustainability, at school as well as university level for sound capacity building. Clarifying the property right and public ownership concept regarding public property (e.g. open urban spaces and natural resources) Establishing social justice and equity regardless of gender, cast and class. 71

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