Government launches River Cities Alliance

Context

Recently, the Ministry of Jal Shakti along with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the River Cities Alliance (RCA).

About River Cities Alliance

• It is a dedicated platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
• It focuses on three broad themes- Networking, Capacity Building and Technical Support.
• Although the Alliance began with the Ganga basin cities, it was extended to include cities beyond the basin as well. The participating cities in the River Cities Alliance are:
• Participating cities in the River Cities Alliance are 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.
• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA) have collaborated together to launch the River Cities Alliance (RCA).
• It will enable cities to learn from each other’s successes and failures as well as connect people with the rivers.

Objective of RCA

• 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 recycle, reuse strategy.
• It will work towards adopting and localizing national policies and instruments with key river-related directions, preparing their Urban River Management Plans and developing city-specific sectoral strategies that are required for sustainable urban river management.
• The Alliance gives opportunities to prepare cities urban river management plans and develop city-specific sectoral strategies that are required for sustainable urban river management.