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According to Annapurna Shaw, inhabitants of these ‘peri-urban’ regions are increasingly threatened by a deteriorating quality of life prompted by deforestation, water depletion and pollution as well as by the poor or almost non-existent mechanisms for sewage disposal. The present study is on the availability of basic amenities such as facilities including water supply, electricity, health and hygiene, primary education and roads and transport in these villages, which are now transforming into peri-urban areas.

The Peri-urban areas are away from the political power and without any official urban status. These areas lack the institutional capacities and governance structures to respond to the processes of change in a positive way. Negative Impact of Urbanization has also been visible. Since the 1990s concerns have been raised about negative impact of spread of urbanization and its impact on the Periurban areas (Bentinck 1996). Reasons for Governance failure and unsatisfactory state of the environmental situation in most Peri-urban areas is largely due to official neglect and non recognition of these areas as deserving of urban civic status. This outcome is due to the dichotomous way which the census define the urban areas. Many of the census towns are urban outgrowths and though they are organically a part of neighbouring cities or large towns, they are not governed by municipal administration. Bhagat (2003) points out that there is as yet no data collected on ‘transitional areas’ by the census. This needs to be done at the earliest to facilitate decentralized governance (Bhagat 2003). World Bank report (2013), ‘Urbanization Beyond Municipal Boundaries’, found that rural areas adjacent to municipal boundaries are generating higher economic growth and employment than the city.

It is a survey based study, which is also exploratory in nature; hence both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used to study the citizen’s perception about level of basic amenities in periurban areas of mansa devi and saketri. Primary data was collected through interview schedule and observation methods.

The primary data have been collected from a sample of 96 households. The collected sample included households of Saketri and Mansa Devi villages on basis of non-probability sampling. The data was collected with the help of interview schedule. 

Locale of the Study

Saketri and Mansa Devi have been taken as locale of the study. These villages are located in district Panchkula at a distance of 5kms from each other on the foothills of shivalik hills and 20 kms away from city Chandigarh. 

Along with interview schedules; wherever necessary, observation method have been relied upon for the purpose of data collection. The secondary data have been collected from surveys relating to the proposed study, research journals, books, newspapers articles, internet sources. The collected data have been analyzed after classification, coding, editing and tabulation. The analysis of the data has been supplemented by graphical representations. It included five dimensions of basic amenities to be studied which are: Water Supply, Electricity Supply, Health and Hygiene, Roads and Transport, Primary Education. It included 22 questions, which were interviewed apart from personal details such as name, age, sex, caste and number of members in house. The results have been interpreted in the form of percentages displayed below:

The results have been interpreted in the form of percentages displayed below:
 1. Water Supply
 Q1. What is source of water supply in your house?

Source of water supply	Responses
Tap Water	63%
Tubewell	37%

 While most people in Mansa Devi village were supplied water via government pipelines to their house, most houses in Saketri village were linked to a community managed tube wells which supplied the water.
Q2. Are timing of water supply regular?

Timing of water supply	Responses
Yes	66%
Sometimes	34%

 For most citizens the water supply was adequate, especially for those living in the Mansa Devi area. Ironically, it is Saketri village, located behind the iconic Sukhna lake that faces some troubles regarding supply of water. The timings were sometimes a source of tension. Moreover, erratic water supply had annoyed some of the citizens of Saketri. 
Q3. Is supply of water sufficient?

Sufficient water supply	Responses
Yes	84%
No	6%
Sometimes	10%

 Most citizens were satisfied with the quantity and pressure of water supply in the areas. However, some villagers in Saketri witnessed the problem of inadequate supply and pressure especially those living on multi-storied houses with those on the first and second floors facing certain problems with regard to water supply.
Q4. If not, what measures are used to supplement the supply?

Supplementary Measures	Responses
Motor	4%
Nothing	96%

Of the total respondents facing problems regarding inadequate supply and pressure of water, a small number who could afford motors used them in their houses while others had to do without them and were dependent on the storage facilities to supplement the same.
Q5. How would you rate the quality of water supplied?

Rating for quality of water supplied	Responses
Very Good	49%
Good	32%
Average	5%
Poor	8%
Very Poor	6%

Most citizens of Mansa Devi were happy with the quality of water supply in their area. However, the people in Saketri had some contradictory views. While most respondents claimed water quality to be adequate, some of the respondents were upfront about discussing their problems. Many respondents complained of the tube wells water being of very low quality and despite repeated complains, nothing had been done by the government to remedy the same.
Q6. Do you use any method to improve water quality?

Method to improve water quality	Responses
Water Purifier	36%
Nothing	64%

With regard to water purification less than half of the respondents used water purifiers like RO’s or Aquaguards. Many on the other hand were using water as it, even without boiling. The same could lead to major health issues and water borne diseases where water quality even in its best form is not portable.
2. Electricity Supply
Q7. Do you have permanent electricity connection?

Permanent electricity connection	Responses
Yes	100%

 
All the respondents claimed to have permanent electricity connections. However, some of the respondents complained that many in the area also resorted to kundi connection, which was obviously not disclosed by any if that was the case. Another major problem pointed out by respondents, especially in Saketri village in this context was that electricity was supplied at an exorbitant price, often Rs. 8-9/ unit which was a burden on the families with an irregular or meagre supply of income. The electricity bills often amounted to nearly Rs. 15,000 to 20,000 quarterly, despite respondents claiming to not regularly operate heavy electrical appliances
Q8. How regular is supply of electricity in your house?

Supply of electricity	Responses
0-6hrs	0%
6-12hrs	1%
12-18hrs	0%
18-241hrs	99%

 Most citizens of both Saketri and Mansa Devi claimed that electricity supply despite being expensive was very regular. However, only one house claimed to have an irregular supply of electricity, available for only 6-12 hours.
Q9. Are you able to run heavy electrical appliances like ACs, Coolers etc?

Heavy electrical appliances	Responses
Sometimes	2%
Yes	14%
No	59%

While, the respondents may be happy regarding the timings of the supply of electricity, there was a severe problem with regard to voltage. Most of the 59% of the respondents able to run their appliances belonged to Mansa Devi. Habitants of Saketri village especially faced severe problems regarding erratic r voltage leading to 27% of the respondents not being able to and 14% only sometimes being able to run their heavy electrical appliances.
 Q10. Do you rely on backup power source like inverters, generators etc?

Backup power source	Responses
Sometimes	27%
Yes	14%
No	59%

Most of the respondents did not resort to use of back up sources of power such as inverters, generators either due to adequate supply of electricity or lack of funds to afford the same. However, almost 27% of the respondents had to rely on these r sources due to voltage issues in the area. Nearly 14% of the respondents had to at times of erratic supply of electricity, rely on backup sources.
3. Health and Hygiene
Q11. Does your house have functional toilet?

Functional toilet	No.
Want to build, but lack of funds	4%
Yes	14%
No	68%

 Most of the households in Mansa Devi and Saketri had functioning toilets in their houses. However, one of the interesting observations through data was that nearly 14% of the respondents whose households did not have a functioning toilet, were not able to do so due to lack of funds, despite government making funds available for the same through numerous schemes via the local bodies.
Q12. Are there adequate medicines and treatment facilities available in the dispensary of your area?

Medicines and treatment facilities	Responses
Sometimes	27%
Yes	14%
No	59%

Most of the respondents claimed the Dispensary to have adequate availability of basic medicines and treatments with local nurses and auxiliary workers being able to cater to such needs in the villages.
Q13. Is there provision to attend emergency cases (delivery, accidents etc) in the medicinal center?

Provision to attend emergency cases	Responses
Sometimes	40%
Yes	29%
No	31%

Nearly 40% of the respondents claimed that the local primary health centre had some facilities to attend to emergencies like burns etc. However, most of this was limited to giving first aid and making ambulance services available for taking victims to better hospitals in Chandigarh or Panchkula. However 31% of the respondents said that the Primary Health Centres were not prepared to handle emergencies at all.
 Q14. Are Doctors, Nurses and other staff of the center regular? 

Presence of staff	Responses
Sometimes	58%
Yes	24%
No	17%

 Most of the respondents claimed that the staff paid regular visits to PHC’s and Dispensary as per the schedule.
Q15. Do Asha and Anganwari workers spread necessary information healthcare on schemes and health care?

Provide necessary information	Responses
Sometimes	54%
Yes	7%
No	39%

 
Most respondents said the ASHA and Anganwari workers were active in the area. However, most claimed that their services were limited to provision of polio vaccine and no other information regarding schemes run for pregnant women or new mothers were supplied to them.
Q16. Does municipal corporation/authority maintain proper public hygiene in your area?

Maintenance of public hygiene	Responses
Yes	68%
No	32%

While most respondents claimed that the local authorities maintained adequate public hygiene in the area, nearly 32% claimed otherwise. This was also apparent to the fieldworkers surveying the area which had open drains and collected garbage. In fact one of the respondents pointed to caste bias with respect to cleanliness liming that areas around Jatt houses were regularly catered to, while at ‘longing to the lower castes did not enjoy the same level of services.
4. Roads and Transport
Q17. Do you have a private Motorized Vehicle?

Private Motorized Vehicle	Responses
Yes	69%
No	31%

 As noted in the figure above, most respondents had private motorized vehicles like bikes, scooters, cars. Thus, they need quality roads for the apt utilization of their vehicles. However nearly 31% of the respondents did not own any private motorized vehicle and relied on public transport.
Q18. What is the quality of roads in your area?

Quality of roads	Responses
Good	42%
Very Good	22%
Average	16%
Poor	14%
Very Poor	6%

 There were varying views regarding the quality of roads. While, most of the respondents were happy with the roads’ quality in and around Mansa Devi, the ‘roads in Saketri village were often broken and narrow. Many respondents were also not happy with the quality of tiles used, which were easily broken and did ot perform their function of not breaking during monsoon period.
 Q19. How would you rate the connectivity of your village with the city? 

Village connectivity with city	Responses
Good	39%
Very Good	38%
Average	14%
Poor	9%
Very Poor	0%

 Despite some of the roads and lanes within the villages being of poor quality, most of the roads linking the villages to the two main cities of Chandigarh and Panchkula were deemed to be of good or very good quality by the respondents.
 Q20. Are you satisfied with the public transport available around your village?

Availability of public transport	Responses
Happy	49%
Very Happy	37%
Neutral	8%
Dissatisfied	6%

 A majority of the respondents were either happy or very happy with the availability of public transport; especially buses in the area which they said were frequent and mostly regular.
5. Primary Schooling
Q21. Do have access to government primary school near to your village?

Access to Primary schooling	Responses
Yes	89%
No	11%

Most of the respondents had access to a primary school within the vicinity of their villages. However some of the respondents from villages a little away from Mansa Devi did not have the same around them and thus had to travel to Mansa Devi for the same.
Q22. Are you satisfied with the quality of education provided in the school?

Quality of education	Responses
Happy	43%
Very Happy	24%
Neutral	17%
Dissatisfied	11%
Very Dissatisfied	5%

There were varying views with respect to quality of education provided in government primary school. While most of the respondents from Mansa Devi area were happy with the school in their area, the same was not true for those in Saketri. In fact most of the respondents here claimed to send their children to private schools across caste and class divisions.

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