SANITATION - WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SANITATION?
According to the unreleased Chennai City Development Plan 2009, the Corporation Act and the District Municipalities Act state that the local body has the primary responsibility for building a system of drains and for building and maintaining adequate numbers of public toilets.[1]
Sanitation is nominally under the purview of the Health Department at the Corporation of Chennai,[2] and the Corporation Buildings Department is responsible for constructing and maintaining the physical toilets.[3]
However, responsibility for the city’s drainage network belongs in practice to a para-statal agency (otherwise known as a state level utility) called Chennai Metrowater. The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB or Metrowater) is an independent institution and was created by the state government in 1975.[4] Their mission statement is “to enhance the health and quality of life for citizens in Chennai City by providing them adequate supply of clean and good quality of water and safe disposal of sewage/waste water at reasonable price.”[5] Metro Water is responsible for building and expanding the sewerage network, and for connecting both public and private toilets to it.
The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, set up in 1970, has responsibilities for providing basic amenities including water supply, street lights, storm water drains, as well as sewer lines to slum areas in the city. Unfortunately, TNSCB works only in recognized or “declared” slums, and the city has not recognized any new slums since 1986. TNSCB also works to provide sanitation and other basic services in the major slum resettlement areas, even though these are often far outside of the Chennai Corporation.
[1] “Public Health, Sanitation, Conservancy and Solid Waste Management: According to the provisions in the Corporations Acts and in the District Municipalities Act, the Local Body shall provide and maintain a sufficient system of public drains. The Local Body shall also provide and maintain in proper and convenient places sufficient number of public latrines in clean and proper order. The Local Body shall make arrangements for regular cleaning of streets and dustbins“ (CDP, 2009). From, Investment Program Review and Institutional Development Support, Chennai, Volume 5
[2] The Health Department is headed by a Medical Officer and looks after the administration of Dispensaries, Public Health, Sanitation, Prevention of Food adulteration, issue of Birth & Death Certificates and Sanitation Certificates.
[3] Information obtained through interview with Corporation officials. However, all decisionmaking and recordkeeping about toilets takes place at the Zonal level.
[4] G.O.Ms.No.916, Rural Development and Local Administration Department, dated 21.05.1975
[5] CMWSSB addresses the “growing needs of and for planned development appropriate regulation of Water Supply and Sewerage Services in the Chennai Metropolitan Area with particular reference to the protection of Public Health and for all matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”