Infrastructure for Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS), are now have to be practiced by both the urban and rural local bodies as statutory obligation, in view of the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India made in 1992.
West Bengal Municipal Act 1993 & 2006, along with its amendments, has made complimentary provisions for decentralised structure with participation from the grass root levels.
In this connection it needs to be mentioned that West Bengal in the whole of India is the only state even now that has already constituted the Kolkata Metropolitan Planning Committee (KMPC) as required in the Constitution. In fact such decentralised system of local body governance is already functioning in KMA.
In the light of this, while the State Agencies are responsible for water supply and sanitation and it should continue to plan and implement capital works, the responsibility of distribution were to be progressively decentralized to local bodies.
