Lucknow, Feb 12 (IANS) Twenty-two river cities from Uttar Pradesh will be a part of ‘DHARA 2023’, a first-of-its-kind two-day international conference being held in Maharashtra on strategies for managing the urban rivers.
The event will showcase developments, best practices from across the country including, and the need for urban river management plans.
The 22 cities part of the River Cities Alliance (RCA) from Uttar Pradesh include Varanasi, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Farrukhabad, Mirzapur, Mathura, Vrindavan, Bijnor, Moradabad, Agra, Bareilly, Etawah, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Kannauj, Lucknow, Shahjahanpur, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Jhansi, and Ayodhya.
DHARA 2023, will be held in Pune, a member of the RCA, and begins on Monday.
According to an official release, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) are organising the event DHARA 2023 (Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers).
DHARA 2023 will offer alliance members a marketplace of solutions in urban river management that they can take back to their cities and put into practice.
Case studies from throughout the nation on innovative river-related strategies and techniques for managing urban rivers, including groundwater management, flood control, lake and pond rejuvenation, and decentralised used water management, will be showcased.
Principal Secretaries of different Indian states as well as experts in urban river management from Denmark, the US, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands, and Australia will showcase international best practices in the sessions.
DHARA 2023 has strong synergies with the Urban 20 (U20) initiative under the ambit of India’s G20 Presidency. One of the thrust areas of U20 is to promulgate urban water security. Healthy rivers have a vital role to play in enhancing the overall water security of the city.
One of the major achievements of the NIUA-NMCG collaboration is the establishment of a “River Cities Alliance (RCA)” of 95 river cities across India. The purpose of the RCA is to provide a platform for the Commissioners, Executive Officers, and senior officials of member cities to discuss and co-learn good practices for managing urban rivers.
Hitesh Vaidya, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), said, “DHARA 2023 is a dedicated event for members of the RCA to deliberate on good practices and learn innovative solutions for urban river management.
Since 2019, NMCG and NIUA have been leading the way in promoting river-sensitive development in our cities. During the event, Municipal Commissioners and senior officials will interact with diverse experts and practitioners which will help our cities learn and adopt practical and tangible solutions to enhance the state of our rivers.”
–IANS
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