We must reflect what we have given back to rivers, says Jal Shakti Minister at DHARA'23 inauguration

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Monday said that rivers are synonymous with civilisation.

Addressing the gathering at the opening session of Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers (DHARA 2023) organised by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) in Maharashtra's Pune, Shekhawat said, "Rivers are synonymous with civilizations and after several decades of using our rivers for survival, we must reflect on what we have given the rivers back, otherwise our future generations will bear the brunt of water scarcity."

He further expressed his contentment that over 40 Municipal Commissioners were present at the event and reflected on the importance of decentralized planning in effectively managing water resources.

"The planning can best be done at the level of the local self-bodies and that is the reason why their presence here is of immense importance," Shekhawat said adding that it is essential to connect with the people, which can happen through local bodies, for the success of any programme concerning water.

The meeting was attended by NMCG Director General G. Asok Kumar; Pune Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar; NIUA Director Hitesh Vaidya. Meanwhile, the opening session of the event also witnessed the launch of the Urban River Management Plan for Ayodhya and Aurangabad.

The Union Minister inaugurated the event by unifying the water collected from 52 participating cities in a Jal Kalash.

Addressing the gathering, Shekhawat also said that the country is going through a crucial time and has completed 75 years of Independence. He said that the technologically-driven change that has been witnessed in the past few decades makes it all the more important for all of us to collectively work in the direction of making a 'Viksit Bharat' as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The world is looking at us because of our growth, especially since India has been handed over the G20 presidency. During an event in Bhopal - Vision@2047- it was emphasized by me that we have accepted the challenge of Viksit Bharat and it is our collective responsibility. I was happy to see that 25 states participated in that event and made presentations on their plans for the water-related issues," he said mentioning their belief that water availability is directly proportional to the growth of the economy.

He also said that caution has to be exercised in ensuring that our programmes on rivers do not get limited to infrastructure development but we must try and establish a robust people-river connection. "It is necessary to reestablish the respect for water, which went down from generation to generation as part of the traditional wisdom of our forefathers," he said.

Speaking further, he said that it is time to generate the people-river sentiment in the younger generation with the help of social media.

Talking further, he stated that the Ministry of Jal Shakti is working holistically for providing safe drinking water to every household, groundwater management and recharge, aquifer mapping, and river rejuvenation and India is among the countries with one of the biggest financial allocation to the water sector.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat expressed his happiness over the trajectory of increasing the members of the River-Cities Alliance from 23 to 107 and said that under the leadership of PM Modi, water as a sector is raising above the silos.

"If every city (107) which is a member of the River Cities Alliance (RCA) will take a step forward, we will take 107 steps forward and that is the need of the hour," he added.

Meanwhile, DG, NMCG G. Asok Kumar in his welcome address said that water was hardly a priority for municipal commissioners but under Namami Gange Programme, they were urged to bring water into their main agenda and we have been successful in doing that.

"Namami Gange has been selected as one of the world's top 10 flagship programmes from over 160 countries which is a testament to the success of the Namami Gange Programme."

Talking about the 2nd National Ganga Council meeting that took place on December 30, 2022, Asok Kumar said that the Hon'ble Prime Minister mentioned during the meeting how rivers are extremely important vehicles for economic growth and emphasized the direct connection between clean rivers and the country's GDP and growth. He said the vision for Swachh Bharat Mission laid out by the Prime Minister paved the path towards a paradigm shift in the approach to urban management which can be seen in several improved health indicators.

Shi Kumar expressed his happiness at the fact that the members of the River Cities Alliance have crossed the 100 mark and the urban water issues are now being addressed in totality. "Water has always been kept in silos; one H2O was divided into multiple units. The creation of the Jal Shakti Ministry in 2019 was, perhaps, the first attempt at breaking those silos," he said, adding, "Another important factor is the encroachment of our water bodies, which are the backbone of the traditional wisdom of water conservation and rainwater harvesting."

He urged the municipal commissioners to manage their water resources well to see tremendous growth in health, economy and overall well-being in their jurisdictions and add value to their cities.

"NMCG has taken a lot of initiatives like making Urban River Management Plans, Thesis Competition etc. to develop models for water as a development resource and RCA is certainly one of the most important steps in the direction of effective urban water management," he said, adding the water sector is a niche area and good work done would pave the way towards efficient water management and make India water secure.

The first day of the DHARA 2023 saw sessions on 'Innovative Examples of River Management within India', 'Innovative International Case Studies for River Management', 'Strengthening the Agenda for Urban River management', 'Youth for Rivers', and 'Experiences from International River Cities'.

The event was also attended by NMCG Executive Director Himansu Badoni; BIOME Solutions Director S. Vishwanath; Pondman of India Ramveer Tanwar; Urban Development Specialist, World Resources Institute Kartiki Naik; Swacchta Pukare, Jamshedpur Gaurav Anand; NIUA Chief Advisor Rajiv Ranjan Mishra; Mississippi River Commission secretary, USA Col. Andy Pannier; GIZ Programme Director, Germany Martina Bukard; Head of Urban Water, Alluvium Consulting, Australia Harry Virahsawmy; Counsellor for Water and Urban Development in Embassy of Denmark Anitha Sharma; Ministry of Jal Shakti Professional Chair, Centre for Policy Research Srinivas Chokkakula; Founding Head of Ganga Prof. Vinod Tare; and Deputy Secretary of NMCG Dheeraj Joshi.

( With inputs from ANI )