New Delhi [India], May 5 (ANI): National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in affiliation with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) organized the ‘River-Cities Alliance (RCA) Global Seminar: Partnership for Building International River-Sensitive Cities’ in New Delhi, an official launch of the IB Ministry mentioned.
According to the assertion, the aim of the RCA Global Seminar was to supply a platform for officers of member cities and worldwide stakeholders to debate and study good practices for managing city rivers.
“The RCA Global Seminar witnessed participation from Embassies/High Commissions of select countries and their respective river cities in order to highlight objectives, achievements, and potential collaborative outcomes of RCA. State Missions for Clean Ganga (SMCGs) and funding agencies like World Bank, ADB, JICAKfW also were part of the discussions”, the assertion learn.
The RCA Global Seminar was presided over by Director General (NMCG) G Asok Kumar.
Addressing the gathering, G Asok Kumar expressed happiness in regards to the enhance within the variety of cities becoming a member of the RCA and the immense curiosity NMCG has been in a position to generate on this situation.
He famous that the trickle began with the Urban River Management Plan and has flowed ever since.
Kumar emphasised the significance of points associated to local weather change and concrete water administration, and the way city planners have a severe problem at hand. “Climate change is a reality. We can see it now in Delhi where in the month of May we need blankets,” he mentioned.
He knowledgeable that RCA began with 30 cities on the banks of the river and ultimately, it was determined to increase it to all cities not limiting to the Ganga Basin. “During the DHARA 2023 event in Pune, we were enthused to see the response from the city planners, who viewed water as something not important,” he mentioned.
Further, he added, “People and administrators are now waking up to the reality as they have realized that issues related to water such as floods, droughts, inadequate waste management etc. can shut down cities.”The Director General hoped that city planners incorporate water administration on the starting stage and begin giving the precedence it deserves.
Kumar mentioned that underneath the management of PM Modi, the Swacch Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission are progressing nicely and making a optimistic impression on the bottom setting world-class examples within the water and sanitation sectors.
“The stopping of Open Defecation ensured that the drinking water sources don’t get contaminated whereas household water supply under JJM is easing the pain of women in rural areas who had to walk several kilometres to fetch water”, Kumar mentioned.
“With urbanization, if we don’t take care of the disposal of sewage then it is a major threat. The urban planners solely focussed on the infrastructure must take this into account to keep the rivers and other drinking water sources clean,” he mentioned.
He famous that the theme of RCA resonated within the UN Water Conference 2023 held in New York in March 2023. “The timely success in the water sector in India is primarily because of people’s participation (Jan Bhagidari) and whole-of-government approach,” he mentioned.
“The time has now come, as envisaged by the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, is to move towards a whole-of-world approach to break the silos in which water has been divided”, Kumar added.
He referred to as for the world gamers to cooperate, work collectively, choose from one another’s finest practices, share data (Gyan Bhagidari), give you transformational options and share within the success.
On RCA Global, he mentioned that cleansing rivers just like the Rhine and the Thames in overseas lands is a lesson and inspiration for us and we should always accomplice with worldwide cities to create stunning cities in India which may take pleasure of their rivers and folks take pleasure in and have a pleasing expertise on the riverfronts.
“The experience of international cities in making their rivers clean, improving river properties, managing river flooding and increasing aesthetic value can be seen as fruitful lessons for us. RCA Global platform should leverage the experience of foreign countries,” he added.
He additionally mentioned that it isn’t about aping anybody however taking the adaptable finest practices as per necessities and utilizing them to make our cities extra stunning.
The Director General additionally knowledgeable that Namami Ganga was acknowledged because the ‘Top 10 World Restoration Flagships to Revive the Natural World’ in Montreal, Canada and Clean Ganga, which appeared not possible, is now taking place.
He mentioned that NMCG has dedicated to the SDG objectives of fairness in water distribution, entry to secure ingesting water, democratization of water and so forth.
“Session 1 of the event saw a presentation from the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) on ‘Decentralized Urban Wastewater Management System in Japan’, and an Embassy Round Table discussion”, the assertion learn.
According to the official launch, Session 2 started with the context setting of RCA that integrated an introduction to NMCG’s Urban Agenda, Urban River Management Plan (URMP) Framework with feedback on RCA and future objectives/actions pertaining to river administration. “Furthermore, there was a presentation from representatives of the India-Denmark Partnership, with a focus on the case study of Udaipur-Aarhus. Another presentation was made on RCA Cities – Ayodhya and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar in this session”, the assertion mentioned.
The assertion additional added, “NMCG c-Ganga facilitated presentations from International Cities – Greater Manchester by Mark Turner (National Course GM Team Leader, Greater Manchester Combined Authority), City of Hamburg by Christian Ebel (Desk Officer for Implementation of EU Water Framework Directive in Hamburg for the Elbe River Free and the Hanseatic City of Hamburg), City of Copenhagen by Jan Burgdorf Nesilsen, Municipality of Copenhagen and the City of Aarhus, Gitte Nordmand Andersen (Aarhus Municipality). Session 2 also witnessed an open house discussion and ended with a vote of thanks from Dheeraj Joshi, Deputy Secretary, NMCG.”According to the assertion, DP Mathuria, Executive Director (Technical), NMCG delivered the particular handle and spoke about how India is massively investing within the water sector, however watching twin challenges of water safety and local weather change. “Both of these factors are interlinked in making water equitable. He noted the facets of water security being water management and water quality”, Mathuria mentioned.
“NMCG has developed a large number of STPs that are able to address the issues of faecal contamination”, he added and famous that nature-based options and decentralised programs shall be essential property by way of an answer to natural waste falling into rivers.
As per the discharge, different members included Mukul Verma (Senior Adviser – InfrastructureFinancial Services, Embassy of UK), Shayan Yousefi (Embassy of Austria), Beate Langset (Counsellor for ClimateSetting, Royal Norwegian Embassy), Anitha Sharma (Counsellor in Urban Development with deal with Water, Embassy of Denmark), RK Srinivasan (USAID’s Senior Water and Sanitation Advisor, US Embassy), Dirk Steffes-enn (Deputy Head of Economic Cooperation and Development, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany), Martina Burkard (Head of Programme, GIZ), Nishi Pant (Senior Policy Advisor, Netherlands Embassy), Jun Tsumori (Counsellor, Economic Cooperation, Embassy of Japan), Kazushi Hashimoto (Consultant, ADBI), Prof Manabendra Saharia (Assistant Professor, IIT Delhi), and Prof. Ashish Pandey (HOD, Department of Water Resources DevelopmentManagement, IIT Roorkee).
“The NMCG-NIUA collaboration has witnessed the historic establishment of the ‘River Cities Alliance (RCA)’ of 110 river cities across India with one international member city – the city of Aarhus from Denmark. RCA was a significant initiative at NMCG’s Side Event during the ‘UN 2023 Water Conference – Water Action Agenda’ on March 23, 2023, which highlighted the importance of Germany as a key partner for the commitment related to ‘River Cities Alliance: Partnership for Building International River Sensitive Cities'”, the assertion learn.
According to the official launch, NMCG has been tirelessly engaged on a joint initiative to propagate river-sensitive improvement in our cities with NIUA. This is in response to the Prime Minister’s name for brand new considering in river cities on the 1st Meeting of the National Ganga Council (NGC) in December 2019. Hence, NMCG seeks to deepen the dedication by way of the inclusion of worldwide cities as members of the RCA in the course of the RCA Global Seminar.
The intent is to facilitate data trade (on-line) for Indian cities to study new practices and approaches for city river administration. Likewise, it can even be a chance for worldwide cities to study experiences in Indian cities, which can be related to their contexts, the assertion added.
“The River Cities Alliance (RCA) is a joint initiative of the Department of Water Resources, River DevelopmentGanga Rejuvenation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS)the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), with a vision to connect river cities and focus on sustainable river centric development. Beginning with 30 member cities in November 2021, the Alliance has expanded to 109 river cities across India and one international member city from Denmark”, the assertion mentioned.
As per the assertion, the primary annual assembly of the RCA – DHARA 2023 (Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers) was held on February 13-14, 2023, in Pune. DHARA 2023 featured key periods on worldwide finest practices and examples for city river administration.
“DHARA 2023 was aimed to inspire members of the RCA to engage in progressive actions for urban river management in their cities. The event shone a light on the unaddressed issues and challenges for river management in cities, which helped NIUA and its partners formulate an effective work plan”, the assertion learn.
The assertion added that the occasion additionally helped in growing a compendium of technological options that cities could undertake for enhancing the administration of their native rivers. (ANI)