DOCUMENTATION OF STAGES OF DWSM PROJECT IN WEST TRIPURA DISTRICT
The Sector Reforms Project has been introduced in selected districts of the country on an experimental basis and West Tripura district is one of them. It is part of Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. The Project envisages community participation in creating and maintaining drinking water sources and sanitation facilities. It re-defines the role of the government from the earlier model of provider to that of a facilitator. The Project is driven by demand originating from within the community in contrast to the erstwhile practice of thrusting a source on the community without involving them. The Project aims at high level of people’s participation so that the community becomes self-reliant in due course of time. It aims at capacity building at the village level and creating awareness in regard to water harvesting and re-charge. The objectives of the pilot Project are as follows; a) Increasing community participation and creating awareness that water is a resource which has to be paid for. The operational and maintenance aspect of the source created would be the responsibility of the community. The community need to consider imposition of user charge for maintenance of the source. b) Creating adequate water sources in the district within a specified time-frame of two years. c) Granting autonomy to the village in choice of source and manner of its implementation. d) Creating gender sensitivity towards drinking water problems since mostly it is women who are involved in the matter. e) Emphasizing quality of source so that it is sustainable and safe for drinking purpose.f) The model should be replicable in other districts of the State/country. West Tripura District has approximate population of 15 lakhs. It is densely populated and more than 30% of its population belong to Scheduled Tribes. A major section of the population live below poverty line, specially in the hilly areas. The district is remotely located in the national context and, by implication, the benefits of modern technologies are late to arrive here. There are 3824 villages in the district of which 2194 are fully covered, 1459 are partially covered and 171 villages are not covered. However, these statistical figures are not fully reliable as they do not indicate ground realities. It is based on assumption of the Ministry of Rural Development that one hand pump will ordinarily deliver 12 litres of water per minute and such a source is sufficient for 250 persons. The sources in the West Tripura District delivers much less.The District adopted the Sector Reforms Project in the financial year 2000-01. The ground works consumed some time and effective implementation could only start from November, 2000 onwards. The District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) was constituted as per guidelines of Sector Reforms Project and registered as a Society with its own bye-laws. The total cost of Project sanctioned for the Mission was Rs 28.19 crores of which Rs 7.70 crores was received in March 2000 as the first installment. A separate bank account is maintained for the Mission operated jointly by the Executive Engineer, PHE and the District Collector. The Mission has begun implementing the drinking water component of the Project in the first phase. The sanitation part would be initialized once the drinking water project stabilises and the expected lag time is 9 months. There is separate budget allocation for Sanitation part of the Project. The following stages have been encountered in the intial process of implementing the Project;i) a Society had to be formed and registered.ii) The members of the society, officials and non-officials, had to be sensitized with sector reforms concept. iii) The panchayati raj institutions had to be sensitized with sector reforms concept. iv) The ordinary people in rural areas had to be sensitized with the sector reforms concept and their confidence won. They had to form Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC) and mobilize public contribution for taking up source creating activities.v) The members of the press and NGOs had to be sensitized and their confidence won as opinion makers.vi) The office procedures for various formalities had to be evolved so that it meets the requirements of effective delivery and monitoring.vii) Deployment of staff and their training had to be arranged. There was confusion in the initial phase of constituting the Society. The geographical area of West Tripura District has two District Councils - one under the 72nd Amendment of the Constitution and another as per the VI the Schedule of the Constitution, exclusively for tribal areas. The matter was resolved by securing the cooperation of both the Councils. The Chairman of the District Council under the Panchayati Raj, the Zilla Sabhadhipati, was opted as the Chairman of the Mission. Suitable representatives of the District Council for Tribal Areas were inducted in the Mission with assurance that the interests of tribal areas would be protected without compromising the powers of District Council for Tribal Areas. The members of the District Water and Sanitation Mission met on several occasion from November 2000 to January 2001. The meetings were held more frequently in the initial stage so as to become clear of the concepts of the Project and evolve a workable model in the context of the State of Tripura. The issues confusing the Mission in the beginning were the following; Whether the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) area, which has maximum problem relating to drinking water, would be compromised vis a vis District Council under Panchyati Raj (Zilla Parishad) though TTAADC also has its area in the same District? b) Whether the VWSC are to be created for each source or one for each Gaon Panchayat? What about Gaon Panchayats which fall under the jurisdiction of TTAADC also? c) What will be the relationship of the VWSC with the Gaon Panchayats? Will it be independent of it or will it form part of it with certain degree of autonomy? d) Whether purchase of all material is to be made