Centre financing schemes for sewage treatment plants: Minister

New Delhi: The Union government is impressing upon state governments and municipal bodies to incorporate rain water harvesting projects in their urban and country plans, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, he said the Centre was persuading state government to make rain water harvesting a component of its urban planning. "We have only advisory and persuasive role," he said. "Though water pricing in urban areas is within the mandate of state government/urban local bodies, the Government of India has issued manuals and advisories advocating the levying of appropriate user charges and to guide states to improve water supply and sanitation services including recovery of operation and maintenance (O&M) charges," he said. Naidu said appropriate water pricing system in urban areas and levying of user charges to recover O&M cost have been part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The Centre is also trying to guide states on creation of proper sewage treatment facilities. It is financing scheme for sewage treatment plants, he added.