National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), in collaboration with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), has expanded Urban River Management Plans (URMP) across the Ganga Basin. The Jal Shakti Ministry said that the Management Plans are supported as part of the Namami Gange Programme. It added that so far, Urban River Management Plans have been completed for 13 cities, while plans are being prepared for 27 cities under Phase-I and 33 cities under Phase-II, taking the overall coverage to around 60 cities.

The Ministry further said that the initiative is aimed at integrating river health with urban planning through measures such as pollution control, flood management, wetland restoration, riverfront development and citizen participation.

To facilitate this transition from planning to execution, NMCG and NIUA are promoting the implementation of selected interventions identified through the URMP process. These interventions focus on addressing urban-river challenges through nature-based solutions, ecological restoration, innovative technologies and community-centric approaches.