5.13 Operations and Maintenance Expenditure

200 Om Prakash Mathur

Operations and maintenance ofservices such as water supply and sewerage systems,management ofsolid waste,street lights,and roads are key functions ofmunicipalities.The level ofexpenditure on operations and maintenance is an important indicator ofthe quality ofservices (table 5.13). On average,operations and maintenance expenditure accounts for 39.93 percent oftotal municipal expenditure.Several states,however,spend substantially higher amounts than the average per capita—Andhra Pradesh, Goa,Gujarat,Himachal Pradesh,Maharashtra,and Punjab among them. The other end,where municipal spending on operations and maintenance is low,both per capita and as a percentage oftotal expenditure,is represented by Assam,Chhattisgarh,Manipur,Rajasthan,Tripura,Uttaranchal,and West

TABLE 5.13 Operations and Maintenance Expenditure

Average annual Expenditure, Percentage growth rate, Per capita 2001/02 oftotal 1997/98 to expenditure, State (Rs million) expenditure 2001/02(%) 2001/02(Rs)

Andhra Pradesh 62.169 65.87 16.54 335.20 Assam 1.797 33.98 6.82 71.96 Bihar 4.316 57.29 20.91 49.96 Chhattisgarh 4.405 30.00 8.68a 112.82 Goa 0.866 39.37 25.02 237.84 Gujarat 67.180 43.39 8.56 375.42 Haryana 4.504 30.29 11.14 77.31 Himachal Pradesh 2.821 50.06 16.78 478.31 Jammu and Kashmir 1.199 12.27 21.47 48.18 Jharkhand 1.494 45.19 –5.60a 39.41 Karnataka 37.693 51.49 16.49 215.37 Kerala 13.026 43.70 5.43 215.49 Madhya Pradesh 13.070 19.59 –10.83 83.77 Maharashtra 171.298 34.76 10.19 435.74 Manipur 0.102 23.36 0.38 18.93 Orissa 9.178 49.41 19.76 175.42 Punjab 48.239 59.18 25.00 596.65 Rajasthan 17.336 34.66 8.79 135.28 Tamil Nadu 54.258 43.51 0.24 209.63 Tripura 0.096 7.26 –5.58 25.90 Uttaranchal 2.957 36.24 9.99 144.86 Uttar Pradesh 26.638 29.00 16.75 79.80 West Bengal 33.210 34.83 7.80 169.79 Sample states 57.785 39.93 10.59 230.31

Source: Mathur and Thakur 2004. a. Annual change for one year.