New Delhi,29 Apr:Recognising the need for a dedicated and user friendly website that can provide requisite information to people related to urban water supply and sanitation at National level, CPHEEO website (http://cpheeo.nic.in) is launched here, today. Launching the website, Shri M Ramachandran, Secretary , Urban Development said that the website would greatly help sensitizing the States and cities in the context of ongoing programmes under JNNURM.
Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) is a Technical Wing of the Ministry of Urban Development, dealing with urban water supply and sanitation at National level. Urban water supply and sanitation (UWS&S) is an important sector related to public health and economic growth of country.
Developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), the pilot project was started in 1988-89 to put in place an MIS system on urban water supply and sanitation sector with the help of WHO. The IIM Ahmedabad has developed the MIS Modules
For the development of the website, funds were earmarked in Ministry’s budget by Planning Commission in successive Five Year Plan right from 7th Five Year Plan to 10th Five Year Plan. The present CPHEEO website development task was started in May 2005, keeping in view the development taken in IT sector and its usefulness for water supply and sanitation sector.
The CPHEEO website consists of two parts, namely -Static Part and Dynamic Part. STATIC PART CONTAINS -Contact Us, Contact State PHEDs, Organizational Structure, WATSAN related agencies and Newsletters. Whereas Dynamic part of website contains the information on the status of urban water supply & sanitation under “Status on Urban WATSAN”. The CPHEEO-approved data collection formats are up-linked into website which could be accessible by individual cities/towns through dedicated portals on the website to update the data periodically. To start with, formats have been up-linked for physical & financial status on water supply, sewerage, drainage and solid waste management.
For making the dynamic part of website operational, the efforts that have been made include a proposal for launching of a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for “Setting up of MIS cells at CPHEEO and State Level” has been envisaged and included in 11th Five Year Plan. The scheme has been recommended by Working Group on Urban Development and accepted by Steering Committee in Planning Commission.
The envisaged MIS for UWSS scheme would require Rs. 8.4 crore during 11th Five Year Plan. After the endorsement of the scheme by Planning Commission and consent of State Governments to bear O&M expenses, the MIS cells at State level will be set up and handed over to them after initial support for first 2-3 years.
The new scheme, viz. “Setting up of MIS cells at CPHEEO and State level” will be put up in SFC under chairmanship of Secretary (UD) for approval and launching. Once the new scheme of “Setting up of MIS cells at CPHEEO and State level” materialised, then the much sought after information collection and dissemination on urban water supply and sanitation sector would be available at National level, which will be a planning tool for policy makers and administrators.