Emerging Challenges of Metropolitan Governance in India

According to the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, metropolitan regions are areas, "having a population of ten lakh or more, comprised in one or more districts and consisting of two or more Municipalities or Panchayats or other contiguous areas, specified by the Governor by public notification to be a Metropolitan area." Some of the functions mandated under the ULBs include urban planning, water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, provision of fire services, etc. Besides urban development authorities and ULBs, a number of function-specific state parastatals and central bodies also participate in the provision of goods and services in the regions. [...]these areas face severe shortage in services such as water, connection to an underground sewerage network, and solid waste management, among others. [...]there are significant costs in moving towards this system that may outweigh potential benefits. [...]it would be prudent to move towards a two-tier system of metropolitan governance, with local bodies at the lower tier and a metropolitan body at the upper tier.10 Although this would be in contradiction to the home rule form of metropolitan governance, which involves bringing the government as close to the people as possible (Bahl 2013), it would result in effective coordination and planning at a metropolitan scale.