Enforceme nt of municipal rules, systems of city governance
4. Program/ Project 4.1. Title
4.2. Description
5. Initiative/ CaseStudy
5.1. Title
Surat: After the Plague
5.2. Description
The clean-up of the city of Surat after the plague of 1994 has become a model for city governance in India. This case study presents aspects of what made this transformation possible.
5.3. Key words which can describe the intervention
Solid waste management, Sanitation, Public health
6. Executive Summary
Situation before the practice
· High population growth rate, mostly due to migrant labour
· Proliferation of slums
· Poor sewerage (30%) and water supply (43%) coverage
· High incidence of malaria and water borne diseases
· Inadequate road network
· Flooding of the Tapi in August 1994 led to incidence of pneumonic pla gue in the city
Encounters and challenges faced by the innovators
· Public health crisis
· Need for long term sustainable solutions
· Poor work ethic among municipal employees
· Poor civic sense among citizens
Strategy adopted
· Decetralisation of power, authority and accountability within the SMC
· Capacity building of the municipal staff and city population regarding issues of garbage disposal and public health
· Monitoring, regulation and streamlining of garbage collection system and its final disposal, along with public health scenario
· Inviting private sector participation in garbage management
· Partnership between elected wing and executive wing of the Corporation
· Quick decision making through administrative decentralisation
· Planned grievance redressal, monitoring and surveillance system
· Road widening and creating a network of underground sewage lines
· Slum clean-up with provision of basic amenities
Results achieved/anticipated.
· A visibly clean city, with wide roads, covered drains, and no garbage on the streets
· Drastically lowered rates of morbidity and mortality, especially from malaria and water borne diseases
Sustainability
· Changes in style of governance of the Surat Municipal Corporation sustained over the past 10 years
· City remains clean
Lessons learnt
· Strong leadership in both administrative and political arenas necessary for good governance initiatives to take root and become sustainable
· Possible to implement administrative strategies to deal with issues of solid waste management and public health if enough thought is put into creating a work ethic as well as public awareness, supported by enforcement measures
Replicability
· Administrative reforms of the SMC kind are possible in every urban centre in the country, without needing a disaster like plague to push decision making into high gear
Pre-plague Surat
Processes of change
driven by incidence of
plague
Surat in the 21st
century
1. High incidence of malaria and water borne diseases
2. High population growth rate due to migrant labour
3. Proliferation of slums
4. Poor sewage (30%) and water supply (43%) coverage
5. One of the filthiest cities in India
6. Public health crisis
7. Very poor civic sense among citizens
8. Lack of work ethic and motivation among municipal
staff
9. Unresponsive administration with no plan of
governance
1. Strong administrative and political leadership
2. Creation of systemic solutions for effective governance
• Administrative decentralisation
• Monitoring, regulation and
streamlining of solid waste management
• Monitoring of public health
parameters
• Slum upgradation with provision of basic amenities
3. Capacity building among municipal staff
4. Financial allocation for infrastructure development
5. Citizen awareness and participation
1. A visibly clean and filth free city: the second cleanest in
India
2. A drastically reduced rate of
malaria and water borne diseases
3. Sewage and water supply coverage upto nearly 90%
4. A motivated municipal staff that takes pride in its work
5. The essential link between solid waste management and
public health firmly embeded in the work ethic
6. A plan of city governance that
has been sustained very effectively for a decade
7. Continuing citizen participation
8. The second cleanest city in
India
7. Contributor(s) and References
7.1. Key Architects
Commissioners and Councilors of the Surat Municipal Corporation since 1995
7.2. Implementors/ Stakeholders
Staff of the Surat Municipal Corporation and citizens of Sura
7.3. Documenting Authors
Dr. Sharadini Rath, Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, Bangalore.
Designation: Consulting Economist
Education: After completing a masters in Physics from University of Pune, earned a Ph.D. in physics from the Institute for Plasma Research, Ahmedabad. After a long stint in physics research and teaching in India and abroad, shifted interest to economics and has been a researcher in this field since 1998.
Experience: Worked as project leader in various research oriented NGO's in Pune and Bangalore.
Current Position: Consulting economist at the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, Bangalore.
Current Interests: Local governance, poverty measurement and related issues, labour and globalisation
• Documents of the Surat Municipal Corporation, data, photographs and video
• Management of Urban Environment, A Study on Post-Plague Initiatives of Surat Municipal Corporation, Archana Ghosh, Institute of Social Sciences, B7/18, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi- 110029
• Interviews with staff of the Surat Municipal Corporation
• Interviews with Coucillors of Surat Municipal Corporation
• Interviews with Mr. Nikhil Madrasi, Channel Surat, Surat Mr. Madrasi possesses rich visual documentation in the form of video footage of every aspect of the transformation of Surat, since he reported the process as a journalist.
• Interviews with industrialists and citizens of Surat • Blessed by the Plague, film by Setu Films 1998, Mumbai. Interview with Swati Dandekar, one of the film makers.
8. Organisation
8.1. Name of the Organisation
Surat Municipal Corporation
8.2. Head of the Organisation
Commissioner, Surat Municipal Corporation
8.3. Location
Surat, Gujarat, India
8.4. Ministry/ Department
Local Government, Gujarat
8.5. Vision / Mission & Activities in brief
To govern the city of Surat
8.6. Address/Phone/Fax
Surat Municipal Corporation Muglisara, Main Road Surat 395 003 India
Email: commissioner@suratmunicipal,org
Phone: +91-261-242 3751-6
Fax: +91-261-245 1935
9. Unfolding Story
9.1. Socio-Economic Background On the banks of the river Tapi in Gujarat, Surat is a very old settlement and has the distinction of being the oldest municipality in India. A trading centre with access to the sea, it has been the hub of commercial activity since pre-Mughal times. The British landed and set up shop here fist. The economic fortunes of Surat have waxed and waned over the centuries, but since independence it has seen a steady increase in employment and population. This has been driven by the high growth of the synthetic textile, zari and diamond industries, in the unorganised informal sector. There are about 4,50,000 power looms in Surat today, in 45,000 units, employing nearly 7,00,000 people. Many ancillary units supply supporting material, and also process waste output, providing further employment. There are nearly 60,000 shops and wholesale outlets for text iles in Surat, making it one of the biggest trading centres for synthetic cloth. The diamond polishing industry has improved its status over the years. There are an estimated 13,000 polishing units, providing employment for over 2,50,000 people.
Image 1: Growth of the Powerlooms in Surat
Surat accounts for 70% of the country’s diamond cutting and polishing, and 40% of total diamond export. It also accounts for about 40% of synthetic fabric production and 12% of its export. This industrial activity leads to about Rs. 3 billion per year in revenue for SMC. This comes mostly in the form of octroi collections.
Image 2: Growth of Diamond polishing in Surat City Region
Much of the employment generated in these major sectors consists of unskilled or low skilled labour. It is drawn from all over the country and migrants from Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan work mainly in the textile industry, while the more skilled labour in the diamond industry comes from the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The industrial base has
made Surat one of the fastest growing urban centres in India, with an annual population growth rate of about 62% according to the 2001 census. Only about 30% of the present 2.5 million population are ‘Surti’. The rest are migrants.
Image 3: Positioning and Growth
Image 4: Sectoral Distribution of Employment
Per capita per day income is about Rs. 70, which is higher than in many other cities, but the cost of living is also very high, owing mostly to the high cost of power. As in all migration dominated industrial cities in India, there are more than 300 slums in the city, where about 21% of the population is living.
Image 5: Household Income Distribution in Select Cities
While the perennial Tapi is a boon to Surat in terms of making it a water rich city, it also brings with it the problem of frequent floods. This, coupled with large population of migrants living in slums, made for an ideal setting for a public health disaster. Before 1995, Surat alone accounted for 50% of Gujarat’s morbidity in malaria. Sewage coverage served only 30% and piped water supply about 43% of the population. It was known as one of the filthiest cities in India.
9.2. The plague of 1994
Heavy rains in the catchment areas of the Tapi, led to large release of dam waters upstream of Surat, leading to devastating floods in the city in late August 1994. Low lying areas were completely submerged. However, even as the waters receded over the next few days, they left behind them large quantities of mud mixed with the city’s filth and dead animals rotting in the day’s heat. There was no attempt to clean up this mess for over 3 weeks, and the condition of the city worsened considerably even after the flood was officially over. It was in these conditions that the plague made its appearance in September 1994.
Photo 1: Plague made its appearance in September 1994
This led to a huge exodus from the city, mostly of the migrant labour population, which had also been affected the most by the floods and subsequent public health failure. About 70% of the migrants fled to their hometowns, leaving the city empty, with all industrial activity grinding to a complete halt. The economy of the city remained paralysed till December 1994. Some countries banned imports of food grains from India, some foreign airlines suspended flights to the country and passengers from India to other countries were quarantined. The image of Surat, and the country as a whole, took a severe beating. The industry suffered a
loss of Rs. 1200 crores.
9.3. Lessons on information management during crisis
The plague came to Surat during a phase of political vacuum at the SMC. The earlier Council had been dissolved and the new one was yet to be elected. The announcement of the outbreak of plague was handled very ineptly, by all accounts. There are many doctors in the city, who believed then and continue to assert today that, in fact, there was no plague in Surat. They point to the nonexistence of the ‘test case’ that confirms not only the symptoms, but also the biochemistry of plague beyond doubt. Such doubts were aired by a local reporter through ext ensive interviews with these doctors and visits to the allegedly plague hit areas. The response of the administration was to put him in jail for 2 days for ‘spreading rumors’.
Officials of the SMC today give a somewhat evasive answer to the question as to whether the diagnosis of plague was correct. Perhaps all that followed the plague in Surat, its remarkable turn around and its steady march along that path, needs a justification. Nothing else but the sheer magnitude of an incidence of the dreaded plague will fit the bill.
10. Leadership Attributes
In May 1995 Mr. S.R. Rao was appointed the Commissioner of SMC. Around the same time, elections to the SMC Council took place and the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power with a thumping majority, under the leadership of Mayor Mr. Fakirbhai Chauhan. These two personalities played significant and complementary roles of leadership in the administrative and political spheres respectively.
Commissioner Rao is credited with setting a personal example of the kind of work ethic required to create an administration that was both pro-active and responsive. Mayor Chauhan had the kind of electoral mandate for governance that any political party can only dream about. Both took up their positions in the midst of a public
relations disaster due to the incidence of plague as far as the SMC was concerned.
Instead of making populist and superficial efforts at tackling the public health scene of Surat, both set their minds to creating a system of municipal governance that would, if sustained, lead to long term solutions to the city’s woes. This was not a mean task, given the fact that no such system existed, and morale among municipal employees was very low, since they had borne the brunt of most media criticism for
poor sanitary conditions in the city.
Urban centres in India are notorious for poor systemic functioning at the administrative level. While the law, as laid down by the Bombay Provincial Municipal Act of 1949, and later the 74th Constitutional Amendment, gives ample flexibility, control and authority for local self governments, the systematic and planned management of resources is not the hallmark of such bodies. The success story of SMC lies in this very basic fact, that the solutions created were systemic.
Such a highly structured plan of governance had two immediate impacts:
1. It created most favourable conditions for the administrative staff to feel confident and motivated. The clear and precise knowledge of what one is supposed to achieve as a health inspector, sweeper, city engineer or town planner is a very crucial step in creating a natural mechanism of accountability and transparency.
2. It gives the elected representatives a very clear role as intermediary between the administration and the citizens. This is the most appropriate role the Councilor can play at the municipal level. A confused system of accountability and jobdescription at the administrative level, leaves the political wing free to make choices that can vary temporally and spatially, about the kind of support to be elicited from the electorate for any administrative initiative. There is no possibility of an effective partnership between the administrative and political wings.
The Commissioner and the Mayor understood that they must each work in their respective areas of expertise and influence, but to a single, systematic plan of governance. This was the crucial combination of leadership and policy that set Surat on the path to a remarkable transformation. There are near legendary accounts of how, between the two, they managed to persuade the owners of various old and new illegal constructions to allow them to be demolished to make way for wide roads and sewage, drains and water lines.
While the credit for starting the process of the turn-around of Surat goes to these two leaders, the long-term success must clearly be attributed to the staff of the SMC and successive Councilors, who having once picked it up, never dropped the ball.
It is interesting to note that the migrant nature of much of Surant’s population is reflected in the origins of its councilors. There are Councilors who represent dominant Marathi, Teluge, Odia, Hindi and other linguistic/regional ghettos of Surat’s slum/semi-slum population. This gives the Council the kind of diversity of representation of interests that is necessary to make it effective.
The media played a significant role through the entire series of events that overtook Surat in 1994 and 1995. Dissemination of information, commentary, opinion building and playing the role of a critical eye viewing the new process of transformation, were its main contributions. It created heroes and villains, reinforced good initiatives and criticised poor ones, advocated citizen participation, and took part in monitoring the on going processes about their effectiveness and impact.
And finally there were the citizens of Surat, who reacted with horror to the plague and the shame it brought in its wake. Once convinced that a strong municipal leadership was willing to go all out to make sweeping changes in order to create permanent prevention of such a mishap, they participated wholeheartedly, changed centuries old habits of throwing rubbish out of their windows, and ultimately made the governance initiatives a success. They continue to do their bit for their city.
11. Policy Support and Systemic Changes Initiated
The most important initiative launched in the post-plague environmental management was to monitor, regulate and streamline garbage collection and its disposal. It was believed that the plague had happened due to the nearly nonexistent management of solid waste. In fact, SMC’s entire post-plague philosophy was guided by the necessity of effective solid waste management. All governance initiatives had this core agenda, and this continues to be the case today.
The other area in which the SMC has made inroads over the years is, slum improvement. Given the fact that nearly 20% of the population lives in slums, this is an area that cannot be ignored in any comprehensive plan for city improvement. Slums have been equipped with the basic infrastructure of paved roads, covered drains, public lighting and public water supply. Over 6500 low cost housing units have been built, and are sold at low rates, and in easy installments. This is my no means sufficient to solve the housing problems of slum dwellers. However, a beginning has been made.
12. Key Processes
The system of governance that was put into place addressed the following main elements:
· Capacity building of SMC staff
· Administrative reform
· Solid waste management
· Public health management
12.1. Capacity Building of SMC staff
One of the major tasks that needed to be done was to motivate the SMC staff and inculcate a work ethic that was based on clear understanding of what needed to be done to keep the city clean and disease-free. Employees of the SMC today state very clearly that the lesson of the plague disaster was to embed forever in their minds the link between solid waste management and public health. It is this organic understanding of one of the vital aspects of city governance that has also made the changes Surat highly sustainable.
The administration has also adopted other initiatives to improve work ethics and make the staff perform as one integrated whole. One of the more innovative approaches to breaking down barriers between various levels of staff has been put into place by mandating that all senior officials spend five hours in the field every day. This led to very effective monitoring of junior staff. But it also led to greater workplace socialisation across the municipal hierarchy, and a clear understanding of the problems faced by junior field staff on the part of the senior officials. This gave rise to some unusual steps being take in order to improve the living conditions of sweepers and other Class IV employees. Their colonies were provided with all civic amenities such as roads, sewage, water and street lights. This set a demonstrable standard for them to keep in mind while carrying out their duties.
A strong work ethic is vigilantly maintained among the municipal staff. A sense of being invested in the whole administrative, monitoring, planning and execution process is common among employees.
This sea change in the work ethic of the SCM staff must remain one of the central achievements that ma de the turn-around of Surat possible. The accolades the Surat has received over the years for cleaning up the city has only helped to strengthened the system, by making the staff raise the bar on their own performance.
12.2. Administrative Reform
A system of 6 administrative zones that are headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy or Assistant Commissioner has been put into place. These are further subdivided into 52 sanitary wards. All ward level micro planning for garbage collection and disposal and monitoring public health aspects is done at the zonal level. The Municipal Commissioner has in effect decentralised decision-making. The zonal offices have both engineering and sanitation department staff, who take part in the micro planning and give input to larger planning needs such as road or sewage projects. The zonal chief can also sanction projects costing no more than Rs. 2,00,000 without seeking prior approval from higher authorities. This makes for a flexible and highly responsive system of localised planning and execution. While it clearly fixes accountability and responsibility upon zonal decision- makers, it also creates a great deal of motivation among zonal staff to
perform well.
Grievance redressal has been streamlined. The white and red card system is quite popular with citizens. All complaints must be attended to within 24, 48 or 72 hours, depending on the nature of work to be carried out. SMC has a high degree of credibility in this service.
12.3. Solid Waste Management
This remains the pivotal area of concern for SMC. Zone level micro planning mostly deals with issues of solid waste management. Allocation of material and personnel are constantly monitored to make sure that near total coverage is achieved for the entire city. Time and motion plans for effective deployment along with an intimate knowledge of conditions at ward level help in maintaining a very clean city. Some private sector participation has been allowed in the garbage disposal function and at present about 60% of the garbage is being handled by private contractors. Two main practices that contribute to greater efficiency are emphasised by the SMC staff:
· Each area is cleaned at least once in every 24 hours in either one of the two working shifts for cleaning staff – 7 am to 11 am and 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm.
· Main roads, markets and public places are cleaned during the night.
Photo 2: Main roads, markets and public places are cleaned during the night
Awareness campaigns are held periodically for both residential areas and industrial units on good practices of garbage disposal. There is a system of ‘administrative charges’ (fines) being used if anybody is found to be in violation of garbage disposal rules. Repeat offenders are charged higher amounts.
Photo 3: Good practices of garbage disposal
· In comparison with the pre-1995 level 35% of sanitation and 40% solid waste removal coverage, today both are up into the 90-95% range.
· Garbage removal has increased from 400 tons per day to nearly 1000 tons per day
· Garbage bins have increased from 700 to nearly 2000
· Nearly 100 Build, pay and use toilet blocks in slums
Photo 4: Garbage removal
12.4. Public Health Management
The essential link between solid waste management and public health is now firmly embedded in the minds of all municipal employees. It is a lesson that is impossible to forget. Health inspectors point at this basic philosophical change in their work ethic as the basis for the success they have had in keeping the city
relatively disease free since 1996.
Strengthening of the health infrastructure, revival of work ethic among the health workers, meticulously planned disease monitoring system and an extensive sanitation drive followed by the SMC have worked wonders for the city’s health indicators. Structured health monitoring has been introduced which provides an early warning system signaling the possible outbreak of an epidemic. Daily inputs from the health surveillance centres in the whole network of municipal hospitals and health centres in the prescribed format by the health and sanitation workers are collected. Information is taken every day from private doctors in the area, about reported cases of different diseases in their clinics.
The constant monitoring of disease pattern and provision of better health care and sanitation facilities have had a tremendous effect on mortality and morbidity rates in the city. The incidence of water borne diseases and malaria, which were the two most common diseases in the city in the pre-plague period, have reduced to a significant extent in the post-plague period.
13. Finance and Budget
Infrastructure and system support for maintaining a clean and well regulated city was created from the apparent shambles that were left behind by the floods of 1994. The issue here is of financial resource allocation, and how it was deployed to deal with the crisis and its long-term solution.
Resource allocation is a strong issue in the political economy of a city government. There are various interests to be balanced. An even handed and transparent process gives rise to two crucial processes:
· Participation of the Councilors in terms of inputs on their wards and what needs to be done in each according to the perception of the citizens
· Participation of the SMC staff, in which they understand the process clearly, making it easy for them to implement schemes with the confidence that such knowledge brings
Octroi and property tax are the main sources from which SMC gets anywhere between 80 to 87% of its total revenue. Both show a consistent rise over the years. So while the industrial base of Surat has been performing well, the city can also boast of one of the most successful tax collection regimes in the country. An estimated 90% of the tax demand is collected. Such trends are a sign of the health of the city’s financial state.
Some officials have expressed concern over this being sustained in the face of the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT). The system of resources being pooled at the State level and then allocated to urban local bodies is viewed with deep suspicion, usually with good reason. They become subject to political intervention by MLA or MP level politicians, with the concerns of the local bodies taking a firm back seat. The role of the MLA/MP becomes pivotal in getting these allocations in fair amount and in timely fashion. The whole idea of decentralisation, where both functions and resources remain at the command of the local government is defeated.
The entire regime of upgrading the city’s infrastructure shows up as large expenditures. The figures show the relative O&M and capital expenditure on these services spent since 1994-95. While roads take up the largest maintenance costs, capital expenditure on these services has been about equally distributed. The creation of this infrastructure has peaked during period from 1998-99 to 2000-2001.
Many of the schemes for city improvement being put into place balance the two essential parts of city governance: the immediate concerns of the elected representatives in terms of their constituencies’ demand, and a long term plan for city improvement on the part of the administration. Resource allocation is most effective when a negotiated path between these two is navigated smoothly.
Such a negotiation is again a matter of respect for each other’s roles, the feeling of being invested in the long-term goals for the city on all sides, and ultimately the will to make governance work for all concerned.
Expenditure allocations for road widening, creation of a weir-cum-causeway to vastly improve water supply and other initiatives for city improvement set up a tradition of successful consultation between the Administration and the Council. 14. Impact
A visibly clean and filth-free city is in itself a very significant achievement for a city once known as the filthiest in India. Covered drains and sewage lines, broad roads, no garbage to be seen anywhere, good water supply, a government that is responsive to the citizens and has the confidence to plan and execute schemes for city improvement for the long term, these are the major achievements of the Surat Municipal Corporation. These have resulted in a much improved public health scenario, with reducing rates of water borne diseases and infant mortality. Surat has been declared the second cleanest city in India.
On the governance front, some major strides have been made by the SMC in putting into place a work ethic among its employees that makes the process of keeping the city on the path charted out over the past years sustainable. This has been one of the biggest achievements of the successive administrations post-1995.
15. Lessons Learned
Urban governance is a matter of will and dedication principally on the part of the municipal administration. It is essential that they set the tone and content standards for efficiency and result oriented work ethics. If there is good leadership and initiative in the municipal administration, a cooperative response from the elected representatives can be expected. Citizens also react very positively to firm policies being implemented by the administration.
However, on a cautionary note, it must be pointed out, that the plague scare was an unusually large perturbation of the Surat environment. If a crisis of such a magnitude had not hit the city, the story of Surat may be very different now. Therefore, issues of replicability should be approached cautiously. Since the plague cannot be replicated, it is difficult to imagine what external motivation would have an effect that would approach that of the plague.
While the details of the system of health monitoring, solid waste management and infrastructure creation are interesting in themselves to any student of urban governance, these are only details. Every urban centre must ultimately generate its own systems of monitoring and enforcement. These will depend very largely on the geo-climatic conditions of each city and the financial resources at its disposal. The real lesson is that a systemic solution is the only hope for urban governance. As pointed out by an erstwhile Commissioner of SMC, most of the changes in the functioning of the SMC post-1995 can be easily seen to be the application of common sense. However, it takes administrative and political will and leadership to makecommon sense common practice.
Governance Knowledge Centre - Department of Administrative Reform and Public GrievanceUntitled Document
