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Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will deliver the keynote address on the inaugural day of the annual meeting of the river cities alliance (RCA), which would be held in Pune between February 13 and 14.

Being organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the annual meeting of RCA, which is known as 'Driving holistic action for urban rivers' (DHARA), it will provide a platform for senior officials including Commissioners, Additional Commissioners, Chief Engineers and senior planners of the 95-member river cities in India to co-learn and discuss solutions for managing local water bodies.

The event has strong synergies with the Urban20 (U20) initiative under the ambit of India's G20 presidency. One of the thrust areas of U20 is to promulgate urban water security, and healthy rivers have a vital role to play in enhancing the overall water security of the city.

DHARA 2023 will witness multiple sessions over the two-day event that include sessions on 'National Case Studies on Innovative River-related Practices' to introduce the participants to several unique and innovative solutions for different aspects of urban river management involving lake and pond rejuvenation, de-centralised used-water management, enhancing river-related economy, groundwater management, and flood management and 'International Case Studies' to focus on innovative river-related practices in countries like Denmark, reuse of used water in Israel, floodplain management in the Netherlands, river health monitoring in the US, pollution control in Japan, and water sensitive city design in Australia