Citizens’ participation in improving sanitation services in urban India

In rapidly urbanizing India, almost one-fourth of the population is living in cities. Participation of citizens in the decision-making process is extremely important and necessary. This paper is based on using citizen report cards to assess performance of the water and environmental sanitation services in Bhopal municipal corporation and six small towns of Madhya Pradesh state in India.

The report cards reveal that 17% of the respondents in Bhopal are not able to access municipal water and are dependent on privately organized ground water extraction through bore-wells. About 20 % of the respondents, mostly poor and normally living in slums are stated to be defecating in the open areas in Bhopal. Of the respondents in the city reported having household toilets, 31% of the respondents have their toilets connected to septic tanks that are in turn connected to open drains carrying other domestic grey water. In the small Nagar Panchayat Ajaygarh only 45% of the families have household toilets, since there are no other options such as a sanitary complex or public toilet, the remaining population defecates in the open.

Personality centric politics and lack of administrative desire are responsible for not utilizing the link between effective and accountable service delivery with higher willingness of the citizens to pay taxes. Municipalities must engage in proactive planning. This may not be possible without adequate funds, necessary policy reforms, stringent implementation guidelines and watchdog structures created by the provincial Governments and municipal authorities.