Jagityal Municipality's alliance with Andhra Pradesh Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APUFIDC) subsidized loan scheme led to provision of water connections to 3,000 households within the network. More than 80% households applied within 10 days of the advertisement of the new scheme and gained the access to the water supply.




Jagityal is town and mandal headquarter of Karimanagar district in Andhra Pradesh. Jagtial is a Grade II municipality. The town was established in 1952. The town has a population of 85,521 in 2001 and estimated above one lakh at present. Jagityal municipality's area is 12 sq. km. comprising of 38 election wards. The economy of Jagityal is purely based on the commercial and retail consumer business and is market place for surrounding villages and towns.

Sriram Sagar Project Canal contributes to continuous water supply to Jagityal covering a reasonable number of households. The Municipality provided individual water connections to the households under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category estimated the requirement of additional 3,000 connections in its network coverage area. On an average to take water connection, it costs Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 10,000 for each household including security deposits, material costs, labour charges, etc. Therefore, many households within network area still did not had individual water connections. Many slum households depended on Public Stand Posts (PSPs) and tankers. As a consequence, households encountered social and health problems. Over time, the state government provided loan to the Jagtial Municipality to provide water connections. However, state government reduced the loan amount from Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 200 per connection and hence the municipality could not meet water supply pipe laying requirement with its feeble resources.
With a view to provide easy access of water supply to poor at affordable rates, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has reduced the connection cost from Rs. 1,200 per connection in 2004 to Rs. 200 in 2008, which was payable in two installments. The poor have to pay water tax at Rs. 60 per month (Rs. 2 per day). An in-depth ward level survey of slums revealed that 3,000 households did not have in-house water connectivity and to provide connection it would cost Rs. 1,600 to Rs. 2,000 per connection for materials and labour. Jagityal town lacked enough resources to enable connections for all households.

Andhra Pradesh Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APUFIDC), the asset management company for the Andhra Pradesh Urban Infrastructure Fund established in 2005 and state level nodal agency for the ongoing Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme extended a loan of Rs. 60 lakhs at interest of 12.75% per annum in two installments to provide water connections to the poor. As agreed in September 2008, the municipality's water tax is on ESCROW to APUFIDC and the municipality repays its loan from additional monthly tax accruing from the initiative.
A survey was conducted to estimate number of poor households or beneficiaries within network area. By end of 2009, identification of beneficiaries was completed and the procedure was simplified as application processed along with property tax (In Jagityal, all slums were notified with land tenureship) and white Ration Card with an application fee of Rs. 200 only.

A request has been made by the Municipality to APUFIDC seeking loan of Rs. 60 lakhs. In accordance with the guidelines, Government of Andhra Pradesh sanctioned loan to provide financial assistance to municipality to give connections to the urban poor. Municipality has opened a special account as per the Terms of Reference (ToR) of payments. The municipality repays the principal amount disbursed together with interest thereon in accordance with the amortization schedule as per the ToR.

The scheme was intensely advertised through local electronic media, newspapers and publicized through distribution of pamphlets, posters, banners. Consequently, a large number of applications were collected by the officials from the BPL households. The municipality procured all the material and staff to install connections within the least required time.
As a result of this initiative, all the 3,000 slum households have in-house water connection with improvements in terms of health and hygiene. It also resulted in decline in time spent on unproductive activities (fetching water from PSPs) and increase the economic productivity of households.

This has led to reduction in expenditure incurred for buying water from vendors. In addition, PSPs declined from 492 to 240 thereby reducing the NRW to 22.5% from 39.5%. The initiative has potential for sustainability and replicability because it provides access to in-house water facility to the poor. APUFIDC is in the process of implementing Initiative in 50 more towns of Andhra Pradesh.
For further details, contact:

Managing Director (FAC) & Commissioner & Director of Municipal Administration - Andhra Pradesh
2nd Floor, Kashana Building
ENC Public Healht Complex
AC Guards, Masab Tank
Hyderabad - 500 004
Ph: 040 - 23435500
Fax: 040 - 23301025
Email: apufidc@yahoo.com