Union Minister of Jal Shakti, RC Patil, on Wednesday held the 14th meeting of the High-Powered Review Board (HPRB) with the Brahmaputra Board, involving all stakeholders.
During the meeting, the stakeholders identified 76 river basins and sub-basins for the creation and updating of masterplans covering the Brahmaputra and Barak basins.
Minister Patil also launched the State Water Reforms Framework (SWRF), a significant national initiative aimed at enhancing water governance reforms across states and union territories.
The SWRF includes 75 indicators organised into five key dimensions: Policy & Regulation, Project Monitoring, Digitalisation & R&D, Infrastructure, and Community Engagement. The goal of the SWRF is to facilitate evidence-based planning, enabling states to learn from each other's best practices, measure their performance against peers, and strive for excellence in water governance.
State governments have been given a timeline of seven months to implement reforms and provide responses on the indicators by January 31, 2027.
Additionally, the framework encourages state governments to undertake measurable and verifiable reforms in critical areas such as groundwater regulation, floodplain zoning, wastewater reuse, dam safety, participatory irrigation management, river basin planning, data integration, and institutional strengthening. It also aims to support states in identifying policy gaps, implementing measurable reforms, and adopting best practices for building resilient, accountable, and water-secure governance systems in line with the vision of Viksit Bharat.
"Sustainable water management requires not only infrastructure creation but also robust governance systems, sound policies, strong institutions, technological innovation, and community participation,” said Patil.
During the HPRB meeting, the progress of the Brahmaputra Board was reviewed in areas such as river basin management, preparation and updation of masterplans, flood and erosion management, springshed rejuvenation, digital transformation, capacity building, and institutional reforms.
Detailed discussions took place regarding the preparation and updating of river basin masterplans using advanced technologies, including GIS, remote sensing, LiDAR, and hydrological modelling.
The HPRB also reviewed various ongoing and proposed projects related to flood management, anti-erosion works, drainage development, springshed management, and water conservation initiatives in different states of the Northeast region.
Additionally, Patil conducted the sixth meeting of the Governing Body of the North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWALM), which operates under the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation within the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
