River Cities Alliance launched to decentralise development of river cities in India

NEW DELHI: In New Delhi, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) co-hosted a first-of-its-kind River Cities Alliance (RCA) ceremony. RCA is a dedicated platform for river cities in India to brainstorm, discuss, and share information about urban river management.

The primary goal of RCA is to provide a forum for member cities to discuss and exchange information on issues critical to the sustainable management of urban rivers. The Alliance will concentrate on three major themes: networking, capacity building, and technical support.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India, launched the River Cities Alliance on Friday, November 26. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, this alliance and platform represent the two ministries’ successful collaboration. The alliance’s secretariat will be established at the National Institute of Urban Affairs with the assistance of NMCG.

According to the press statement, the participating cities in the alliance include Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Munger, Patna, Berhampur, Hooghly – Chinsurah, Howrah, Jangipur, Maheshtala, Rajmahal, Sahibganj, Ayodhya, Bijnor, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Mathura-Vrindavan, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Aurangabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Pune, Udaipur, and Vijayawada. 

Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, stated that this alliance will allow municipal administrators and their teams to embark on ground-breaking initiatives as well as learn and inspire one another. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, added that this alliance has the potential to play a critical role in connecting cities to their rivers. It has the potential to create a model for all cities in the basin and beyond to follow.

RCA was established to work toward the adoption and localisation of national policies and instruments with key river-related directions, as well as to develop city-specific sectoral strategies required for sustainable urban river management. It will give these cities the opportunity to strengthen river city governance in order to improve their liveability and attract external economic investments.