River Cities Alliance

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Recently, the Union Minister for Jal Shakti launched the River Cities Alliance. 

About River Cities Alliance

• It is a dedicated platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for the sustainable management of urban rivers.
  • This first of its kind of Alliance in the world symbolizes the successful partnership of the two Ministries i.e.
    • Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. 
    • The Alliance will focus on three broad themes- Networking, Capacity Building and Technical Support. 

• Background: In 2019, During the meeting of the National Ganga Council, the Prime Minister of India highlighted the need for a new river centric thinking in planning for cities on the banks of rivers.
  • Subsequently, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA) have collaborated together to launch the River Cities Alliance (RCA).

• Secretariat: It will be set up at the National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA), with NMCG’s support.
• Participating cities: Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Munger, Patna, Berhampore, Hooghly-Chinsurah, Howrah, Jangipur, Maheshtala, Rajmahal, Sahibganj, Ayodhya, Bijnor, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Mathura-Vrindavan, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Aurangabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Pune, Udaipur and Vijayawada.
• Objectives :
  • To provide the member cities with a platform to discuss and exchange information on aspects that are vital for sustainable management of urban rivers such as minimizing their water footprint, reducing impacts on river and water bodies, capitalizing on natural, intangible, architectural heritage and associated services and develop self-sufficient, self-sustainable water resources through recycling, reuse strategy. 

• Significance: The Alliance cities will work towards adopting and localizing national policies and instruments with key river-related directions, prepare their Urban River Management Plans and develop city-specific sectoral strategies that are required for sustainable urban river management. 
• The Alliance gives opportunities to these cities to strengthen governance aspects for river cities and improves their liveability to attract external economic investments, access state of the art knowledge and frameworks as well as an opportunity to serve as the site for unique demonstration projects which will be implemented by NIUA and NMCG. 

Source: PIB