River conservation masterplans in cities
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has published “River Centric Urban Planning Guidelines” in May, 2021 to assist the Urban Local Bodies, Urban Development Authorities and State Town and Country Planning Departments, etc, for taking action to conserve and preserve the rivers, water bodies and flood plains. The National Water Policy, 2012 includes a section on conservation of rivers. It also mentions that encroachments and diversion of water bodies must not be allowed and restoration must be promoted to the extent feasible.
Realizing the significance of preserving the flood plains and ensuring planned development in the vicinity of rivers, the Guidelines on River Centric Urban Planning has been circulated by MoHUA to all the States/UTs, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Further, the National Mission for Clean Ganga, in order to mainstream river sensitivity into long term processes have urged Urban Local Bodies to incorporate river conservation plans when they prepare their City Master Plans/Development Plans. A guidance document titled “Strategic Guidelines for making river-sensitive Master Plans” has also been developed to help city planners integrate river cleaning into the Master Plans.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Food Processing Industries, ShriPrahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the LokSabha today.
