MLA Saryu Roy: Five cities from Jharkhand included in first phase of URMPs

Roy further said that the URMP for Jamshedpur, including the Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services Ltd (TSUSIL) command areas, will be taken up in the second phase.

Five cities from Jharkhand, including Adityapur and Ranchi, have been included in the list of 62 cities across India for preparing Urban River Management Plans (URMPs) under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) sanctioned Plan-2026.

Saryu Roy, the Janata Dal (United) MLA from Jamshedpur (West). (HT File)

“The state government told the assembly that five cities — Adityapur, Ranchi (the originating city of the Subarnarekha river), Dhanbad, Chas and Sahibganj/Rajmahal — have been included in the first phase under the NMCG for preparing URMPs. I had requested the state government to make public the detailed plans prepared for Ranchi and Jamshedpur under the River Cities Alliance (RCA) initiative by the Union ministry of jal shakti and the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs. I also requested the government to implement the plans in earnest for sustainable river management and basin-area development alongside the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers in Jamshedpur,” Janata Dal (United) MLA from Jamshedpur (West), Saryu Roy, told HT on Friday.

“A total of 14 cities — Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chas, Adityapur, Deoghar, Medininagar, Mango, Jamshedpur, Jugsalai, Giridih, Sahibganj, Rajmahal, Phusro and Chirkunda — from Jharkhand have already been members under the RCA initiative. The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) has been appointed for preparing the URMPs in collaboration with its knowledge partner Alluvium India,” the state government said in the assembly on Thursday, responding to Roy’s submission.

“Adityapur has been included in the first phase because chemical discharge and other effluents from the hundreds of industries located in the Adityapur Industrial Area (AIA) directly enter the Kharkai river and are carried to the domuhani (confluence) in Sonari, where the Kharkai and Subarnarekha rivers merge and proceed on their downstream journey to the sea. Under the URMP, mapping of all sewerage and drainage lines falling into the rivers will be carried out, and a comprehensive management plan will be prepared for effective sewerage treatment and riverfront development,” Roy said.