Village or Town? Classifying a Growing Settlement
Bhivandi Khurd is a revenue village of 24,000 people spread over 12.6 km². Census-style figures for the settlement show a density of about 1,900 persons per km², and 78 per cent of male main workers are employed in trade, transport and small manufacturing rather than in agriculture. It is still governed by a gram panchayat, but a citizens' group has petitioned the collector for a nagar panchayat, pointing to the water supply. The piped scheme was designed in 2009 for 12,000 users at 70 litres per capita per day; supply now reaches households for about 40 minutes every third day, and 30 tankers a week are hired in summer. A builder has applied for a no-objection certificate for 600 flats, arguing that the project will bring property tax the local body needs. The gram sabha has passed a resolution opposing the project, and the zilla parishad says water will not be its responsibility once the area becomes urban.
1. On the data given, what constitutional category fits this settlement, and who can actually bring the change about?
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The three conventional tests for treating a settlement as urban are: population above about 5,000, density above about 400 persons per km², and at least 75 per cent of male main workers in non-agricultural work. Here the figures are 24,000, about 1,900 per km² and 78 per cent - all three are satisfied, so the settlement is functionally a transitional area, not an agricultural village.
Under Article 243Q of the Constitution, as inserted by the 74th Amendment, three types of urban local body are envisaged: a nagar panchayat for a transitional area, a municipal council for a smaller urban area, and a municipal corporation for a larger urban area. The Twelfth Schedule lists the functions, including water supply.
The crucial judgement is about authority. The classification is made by the state government by notification, on criteria laid down in state law; the collector can forward a recommendation, and the gram sabha can petition or oppose, but neither can by itself convert the body. A census 'urban' label also does not automatically change the local body. The correct step is a representation to the state urban development department, with the demographic and employment data attached.
2. Using a water balance, evaluate the builder's NOC request and the weight of the gram sabha's resolution.
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Supply side: the scheme was sanctioned for 12,000 users × 70 litres per capita per day = 840,000 litres per day.
Existing demand: 24,000 people at the normative 135 litres per capita per day for a town would need 3,240,000 litres per day. Even at the old 70 litres standard the requirement is 1,680,000 litres per day - twice the design figure. The observed supply of 40 minutes every third day is consistent with a source or transmission constraint, not merely a distribution problem.
Added demand: 600 flats at about 4.5 persons each ≈ 2,700 people, needing roughly 364,500 litres per day at 135 litres per capita per day.
Conclusion: an unconditional NOC would convert an existing shortage into a crisis. The defensible position is that the NOC may be granted only with a condition that the developer finance or execute augmentation of the source and storage, with the capacity certified before occupancy. The property-tax argument is genuine but cannot be used to trade away a basic service; a new colony that receives no water will not pay tax reliably either.
The gram sabha resolution has real political and procedural weight and should be recorded, but it is not the legal test for either the NOC or reclassification. The constitutional consequence to state is that once a nagar panchayat is constituted, water supply becomes its statutory function under the Twelfth Schedule, so the liability is inherited rather than avoided.
3. What should the citizens' group do in the next six months, and what would an RTI application establish?
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Immediate legal steps: write to the collector and the state urban development department seeking a status report on reclassification, and to the water supply and sanitation department on the scheme. Ask specifically whether the shortfall is at the source, at the treatment works or in distribution.
RTI requests should seek: the original scheme design and sanction order (2009), the sanctioned source yield and current actual yield, water quality test results for the last 12 months, the tanker supply register, and any proposal for augmentation. These documents would show whether the 40-minute schedule is a deliberate rationing measure or the symptom of a failing source; the answer determines whether repair, a new source or demand management is the right remedy.
Interim measures are worth doing but should not be overstated: leak surveys, metering and tariff discipline, a published tanker roster, and rooftop rainwater harvesting on school and panchayat buildings. None of these creates 1.7 million litres a day, but they buy credibility and reduce wastage.
The judgement to record is that reclassification will not by itself produce water; the group should pursue both the constitutional change and the engineering augmentation in parallel, and should treat the builder's NOC as a lever for funding the second.