New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday said that Manali in Himachal Pradesh, Patiala, Dera Bassi in Punjab and Yamuna river banks in Delhi were the three worst affected cities by flood this year. “The major cities most affected by floods during the last five years include Palakkad, Thrissur, Cochin, Malappuram in Kerala (2018 & 2020), Hyderabad (2020), Bengaluru (2022), Manali in Himachal Pradesh (2023), Patiala, Dera Bassi in Punjab (2023) and Yamuna river banks in Delhi (2023),” said Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Kaushal Kishore in the Lok Sabha.
He said that as per the 12th Schedule of the Constitution, Urban Planning is the function of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Urban Development Authorities. “The Government of India has only an advisory role in the matter,” he said in a written reply. Referring to the remedies for city flooding, Kishore said that the Ministry published Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for urban flooding in 2017, which is an advisory and was circulated to all the States and UTs for their adoption as per local conditions.
Also read: Yamuna breaches danger mark again; another spell of floods anticipated in Delhi
He informed that the Ministry has published Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation Guidelines 2014 for the adoption of states that also address the issues of urban flooding. “The Ministry under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is also providing Central assistance to prepare Geographic Information System (GIS) based master plans in cities under sub-scheme on ‘Formulation of GIS-based Master Plan for AMRUT cities,” he said.
He said that the sub-scheme is 100 per cent centrally funded and being implemented through State governments, with a total outlay of Rs 515.00 crore. “It has three components, including GIS database creation, GIS-based master plan formulation and capacity building. At present 461 towns in 34 States and UT are on board,” Kishore said.
He said that stormwater drainage is one of the components of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). “Against total allocation of Rs 77,640 crore for projects under AMRUT, Rs 2,969 crore (4 per cent) has been allocated to stormwater drainage. Against this allocation, a total of 812 projects worth Rs 2,998 crore have been taken up across 19 states and UTs. Of these, 719 projects worth Rs 1,622 crore have been completed and 93 projects worth Rs 1,376 crore are under implementation. The completed projects under AMRUT have helped eliminate 3,319 water logging points,” Kishore stated.
