New Delhi Castigating municipal bodies for the high level of pollution in cities, Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai said on Wednesday the urban bodies must cleanse and update their books of accounts in order to tap the bond market as it is the practice in developed and emerging economies. While cities have emerged as engines of growth, rapid population growth and urbanisation has posed a challenge for municipalities in preventing environmental degradation and infrastructure development. “The challenges posed by the urban infrastructure deficit call for investment of a scale that require immediate attention of all stakeholders,” Rai said at a conference of city mayors and urban bodies. Despite improvement in the financial position of states, the urban bodies need to rope in private firms and tap the capital market for bridging the funding gaps. “The market for municipal bonds in India is almost non-existent unlike countries such as the US where this is the principal mode of financing urban infrastructure,” Rai said adding even emerging economies like Russia, South Africa and Mexico have relatively well-developed municipal bond market. For municipalities of Indian cities to tap the bond market, Rai said “they must be able to ensure that their financial positions are in line with the other entities that access the markets for funds.” Most municipal bodies have got their accounts upgraded and audited for years while some of them are yet to get it done for the last fiscal year, Rai said, adding “we clearly need to cover a lot of grounds and we need to do so on an urgent basis.” Fund crunch have prevented urban bodies to undertake infrastructure projects and those aimed at reducing pollution. In a performance audit report to parliament, CAG said the water pollution in India presents a disappointing picture with cities like Bangalore treating only 10% of sewage generated while dissolved oxygen levels are near zero in rivers like Yamuna at Delhi and Sabarmati at Ahmedabad.