Overregulated and Underserved: Regulatory overlap in infrastructure/service provision in Delhi's ‘informal’ settlements

This study is the first in-depth analysis of regulatory overlap in Water Sanitation Hygiene (WaSH) provision in urban ‘informal’ settlements. Using a mixed methods approach to map the spatial and functional footprint of government agencies, identify operational gaps or overlaps in agency activities, and examine its sources and consequences, this paper makes a case for regulatory overlap as a major challenge because it cripples infrastructure/service providers, not just users. Over 2012–2019, I conducted field observations at 20 settlements in Delhi, India, content analysis of 14 relevant city and national legislations, policies and plans, and interviews with (i) 56 settlement residents, (ii) 13 officials from the water, planning, shelter and municipal authorities, and (iii) 8 NGOs. I classified the emerging examples of regulatory overlaps into three categories: similar functional jurisdictions and adjacent spatial jurisdictions, different functional jurisdictions and similar spatial jurisdictions, similar spatial and functional jurisdictions. I found that overlaps result in burdensome transaction costs for Delhi's shelter authority, unintended public health and environmental impacts, and a diffused provider network that further fragments WaSH access. Overlaps were sourced to the disconnects between various legislations, or between legislations and other instruments—plans, programs, legal orders—that expanded the mandates of government agencies without updating corresponding legislations. This study suggests the need to take a network approach to understand the many international, national, and local actors dictating WaSH access in ‘informal’ settlements, and the instruments guiding them. Without that, waste will keep cycling from toilets to drains to public spaces, from one jurisdiction to another.