Lok Sabha Question No. 1577 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-15
Subject: Floods in Metropolitan Cities
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Thomas Chazhikadan

## 1577

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI, DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1577

ANSWERED ON 15.12.2022

## FLOODS IN METROPOLITAN CITIES

## SHRI THOMAS CHAZHIKADAN

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:-

(a)  whether the Government is aware that the major metropolitan cities in the country are annually affected by flood like situations during monsoon;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to redress the situation; and (c) whether the Government has prepared any master plan for flood and drought management in the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI ( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

(a)  &  (b) Central  Water  Commission  (CWC)  is  the  nodal  Organisation  entrusted  with  the  task  of flood forecasting & early flood warnings in the country. Presently, CWC issues flood forecasts for 333 forecasting  stations  (199  river  level  forecast  stations  &  134  dam/  barrage  inflow  forecast  stations). These stations cover 20 major river basins in 23 States & 2 Union Territories. In order to provide more lead time to the local authorities to plan evacuation of people & take other remedial measures, Central Water Commission (CWC) has developed basin wise flood forecasting model based on rainfall-runoff mathematical modelling for 5 days advance flood forecast advisory at identified flood forecasting and inflow  forecasting  stations.  As  per  flood  forecasting  network  of  CWC,  during  the  last  3  years,  in addition  to  existing  flood  prone  states  of  Assam,  Bihar  &  Uttar  Pradesh,  extreme  floods  were witnessed  in  the  states  of  Kerala,  Karnataka,  Tamilnadu,  Andhra  Pradesh,  Telangana,  Odisha, Maharashtra,  Chhattisgarh,  Madhya  Pradesh  &  Rajasthan  due  to  excess  to  large  excess  rainfall  in these states combined with extremely heavy rainfall in short duration.

Management of urban flooding falls under the domain of the State/UT Governments and the Urban Local Bodies/Urban Development Authorities concerned.  For the guidance of the State/ UT Governments,  Ministry  of  Housing  and  Urban  Affairs  (MoUHA)  has  issued  Urban  and  Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, 2014 by integrating the guidelines  on  mitigation,  prevention  and  preparedness  for  urban  flooding  issued  by  the  National Disaster  Management Authority. MoUHA has also issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for

Urban  Flooding  in  2017.  The  SOP  lays  down,  in  a  comprehensive  manner,  the  specific  actions required to be undertaken by the ULBs, District Administration and the State Government. A Manual on  Storm  Water  Drainage  Systems,  2019  to  provide  guidance  on  sustainable  design,  planning  and management of storm water drainage systems and emergency plan for flood response in urban area has also been published.

(c) The  large  temporal  and  spatial  variation  in  availability  of  water  in  country  leads  to  recurrent floods  in  some  parts,  while  some  other  parts  experience  drought.  Interlinking  of  Rivers  (ILR) programme has been envisaged to  reduce  regional  imbalance  in  the  availability  of  water.  National Perspective Plan (NPP) for Water Resources Development was formulated by Government of India in 1980 for providing storages and transfer of surplus waters to water deficit regions so as to mitigate the effect of annually recurring floods and also to minimize the incidence of droughts.

The National Perspective Plan would give additional benefits of 25 million hectares of irrigation from  surface  waters,  10  million  hectares  by  increased  use  of  ground  water,  34,000  MW  of  hydropower generation and other benefits like augmenting domestic & industrial water supply, navigational facilities, employment generation, fisheries, salinity control, pollution abatement, etc. National Water Development  Agency  (NWDA)  under  the  Ministry  of  Jal  Shakti  has  identified  16  links  under Peninsular  Rivers  Component  and  14  links  under  Himalayan  Component   of  NPP  for  inter  basin transfer.  Pre-Feasibility  Reports  (PFRs)  of  all  the  30  links  have  been  completed  and  Feasibility Reports (FRs) of 24 links and Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of eight links have been completed. The Govt. of India has approved the implementation of Ken- Betwa Link Project (KBLP), one of the link  under  Peninsular  Rivers  Component,  in  December,  2021  with  an  estimated  cost  of  Rs  44605 Crores with central support of Rs 39317 Crores through a Special Purpose Vehicle viz; Ken Betwa Link Project Authority (KBLPA).  To ensure proper use of rain water in the country, Central Ground water Board (CGWB) has prepared a master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater - 2020 in consultation with State Government /Union Territories which is a macro level plan indicating various structures  for  different  terrain  conditions  of  the  country.  Ministry  of  Jal  Shakti  has  launched  'Jal Shakti  Abhiyan:  Catch  the  Rain'  with  the  tagline  'Catch  the  Rain  where  it  falls,  when  it  falls'  to nudge states and stakeholders to create appropriate Rain Water Harvesting structures(RWHS), suitable to the climatic condition and sub soil strata of the area, with people's active participation, during the pre-monsoon  and  monsoon  period.  With  a  view  to  conserve  water  for  the  future,  the  Union Government  launched  'Mission  Amrit  Sarovar'  on  24th  April  2022  aimed  at  developing  and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country.

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