In news– DHARA, the annual meeting of members of The River Cities Alliance was held in Pune recently.
About DHARA-
- It is the annual meeting of the members of the River Cities Alliance (RCA) organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
- It has provided a platform for senior officials including Commissioners, Addl. Commissioners, Chief Engineers and Senior Planners of the 95-member river cities in India to co-learn and discuss solutions for managing local water bodies.
- The event has strong synergies with the Urban20 (U20) initiative under the ambit of India’s G20 Presidency. One of the thrust areas of U20 is to promulgate urban water security.
What is River Cities Alliance(RCA)?
- RCA started with 30 cities in 2021 and currently has 95 cities as members across India.
- It is a dedicated platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
- River Cities Alliance, first-of-its-kind Alliance in the world.
- It symbolizes the successful partnership of the two Ministries i.e., Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
- The Alliance focuses on three broad themes– Networking, Capacity Building and Technical Support.
- The 30 member cities include Haridwar, Rishikesh, Kanpur, Ayodhya, Patna, Howrah, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Prayagraj, etc. from Ganga basin states and Aurangabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Udaipur, Vijayawada, etc. from non-Ganga basin states.
Source: PIB
