Urban Reforms :

 Some of the significant reforms are as under: 

• Online Building Permission System (OBPS)- with a view to facilitate Ease of Doing Business in construction permits, OBPS has been operational in Delhi and Mumbai since April 2016. It has been targeted to get OBPS implemented in all cities/towns across the country by 31st March 2020.
• Replacements of Street Lights with LED lights- It has led to energy savings and reduction in CO2 emission.
• Credit Rating- Four hundred and sixty nine AMRUT cities have been credit rated out of the total 485 cities where the credit rating work has commissioned. Cities with lower rating are following measures to improve their performance so that they become credit worthy and raise funds for their projects.
• Municipal Bonds- Rs. 3,390 crore have been raised through municipal bonds during 2017-19 for upgrading urban infrastructure by 8 mission cities (Ahmedabad, Amravati, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Indore, Pune, Surat and Vishakhapatnam). Raising of bonds leads to improved governance, accounting systems, finance, transparency, accountability and delivery of services in the ULBs. It will also enhance their self-dependence and confidence to serve the citizens. 
• Jan shakti Abhiyan-Urban In order to address the national issue of water scarcity, Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) has undertaken Jal shakti Abhiyan (JSA) from 1st July 2019. 
• It also aims to provide tapped water supply to every house hold by 2024. As according to census 2011, only 64% of the total urban households had access to tapped water supply.
• The aim is to make water conservation measures a Jan andolan, through extensive Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities across the country in 754 water-stressed cities. The Key thrust areas of Jal Shakti Abhiyan (urban) are as follows:
  • Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) - to recharge ground water sources and to store water. Reuse of treated wastewater.
  • Rejuvenation of water bodies- to clean and rejuvenate defunct wells and water bodies.
  • Plantation- to mobilise the local community members to conduct plantation drives across the cities.

Future Strategy:

AMRUT has made remarkable achievements in improving water and sanitation coverage in urban areas. During the Mission Period, it envisages to cover over 60% of the urban population living in 500 cities with universal coverage of water supply and over 60% coverage of sewerage and septage services.   However more than 3500 smaller cities and towns have not been covered out o 4378 statutory towns and cities which is a major chunk of the total population which must be addressed. Implementation of effective framework will only enable to achieve the Sustainable Development goals related to access to safe drinking water (SDG Goal 6.1) and improve water quality (6.3) by 2030.