In a major move towards sustainable and water-sensitive urban development, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved the Action Plan 2025 for the River Cities Alliance (RCA), setting in motion a comprehensive and action-oriented roadmap for the year ahead.
With 145 member cities, the RCA—jointly spearheaded by the Union Ministries of Jal Shakti and Housing and Urban Affairs—aims to integrate river-centric planning into the urban development agenda across India.
The 2025 plan focuses on enhancing institutional capacities, fostering inter-city collaboration, and embedding river-sensitive thinking into city master plans. A significant component of this year’s plan is the promotion of River-Sensitive Master Planning (RSMP), with training programs being rolled out across states. Onboarding sessions for cities in Tamil Nadu are scheduled to kick off the initiative, with more states to follow. These programs will provide technical guidance and policy support to help Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) incorporate river systems into urban growth strategies.
To further this effort, NMCG is accelerating the development of Urban River Management Plans (URMPs), with 25 new plans targeted for completion this year. This is part of a broader vision to develop 60 such plans over the next two to three years.
URMPs represent a pioneering framework—launched in 2020 by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and NMCG—that ensures environmental, social, and economic dimensions are accounted for in urban river governance.
Five cities—Kanpur, Ayodhya, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Moradabad, and Bareilly—have already developed their URMPs, setting the benchmark for other urban centres. Notably, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar’s Kham River Restoration Mission was globally recognised by the World Resources Institute’s Ross Center Prize for Cities, underlining the transformative potential of this initiative. Supported by the World Bank, this initiative marks a bold step in deepening river-sensitive urban governance.
Steering Committees have already been constituted in states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal to facilitate plan formulation and guide implementation
An official from the uNION Jal Shakti Ministry said that the in alignment with the Prime Minister’s vision, the NMCG is also steering the development of a URMP for the national capital. “This initiative seeks to redefine Delhi’s rivers as vital ecosystems and not just water channels, paving the way for sustainable and inclusive urban river management in alignment with national environmental priorities. The URMP in Delhi will serve as a model for other metropolitan cities, anchoring the vision of resilient and river-sensitive urban development.”
In an effort to foster basin-linked urban thinking, NMCG will also issue an advisory on “Effective vertical coordination among basin, district and city-level river management plans.” Complementing this, a variety of tailored knowledge products will be developed, alongside a feedback mechanism to identify knowledge gaps faced by member cities. Technical support will be strengthened through the formation of Thematic Expert Groups, which will also guide eco-friendly riverfront development initiatives, said the official.
