Parliament Question: Urban Flood Management in Metropolitan Cities

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1847 TO BE ANSWERED ON JULY 30, 2026 URBAN FLOOD MANAGEMENT IN METROPOLITAN CITIES NO. 1847 MS SAYANI GHOSH: Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has taken note of the recurring floods and urban waterlogging in major metropolitan cities during the monsoon and if so, the details thereof; (b) whether the Government has issued any advisories, guidelines or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to the State Governments and Municipal Corporations for urban flood management and if so, the details thereof; (c) the details of the financial assistance provided by the Government for urban flood mitigation, storm-water drainage, flood-resilient infrastructure and related projects in metropolitan cities during the last five years, city-wise; (d) whether the Government has assessed the preparedness and capacity of Municipal Corporations to manage urban flooding and if so, the details thereof; and (e) the measures taken by the Government in coordination with State Governments to strengthen the capacity of Municipal Corporations through technical support, funding, training, early warning systems and climate-resilient urban planning? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS (SHRI TOKHAN SAHU) (a) to (d): Management of urban flooding falls under the purview of the State Governments and the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)/ Urban Development Authorities, who are responsible for maintaining the drainage and sewerage system. Government of India supplements the efforts of the States through schematic interventions/ advisories. It provides financial and technical support to the States to strengthen Urban Planning ecosystem. …2/--2- The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has published the following documents/advisory guidelines for improving urban drainage and flood management: (i) Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, 2014 (https://www.mohua.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/1813403503fbec280e76 48c0ae692512.pdf) & (https://www.mohua.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/dd392b7781e668614ae0 446cfd114bc6.pdf) (ii) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Urban Flooding (https://www.mohua.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/11/580e35ec9fae474aaa96 bec087e76553.pdf) (iii) River Centric Urban Planning Guidelines in 2021 to enable cities in the development of conjunctive water management approaches including nature-based solution (https://www.mohua.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/eb2bdfc0d54766fbbc52e 56fe77ca687.pdf) (iv) Guidance Document on Creation of Rain Water Harvesting Parks (https://www.mohua.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/b0b5705fe04d5c0c9c33 187aeef85823.pdf ) (v) Manual on Storm Water Drainage System (https://www.mohua.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/8a2456c722036d78c72a 698898ef846d.pdf) Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) launched in the year 2015, inter alia, has a component on storm water drainage, which involved construction and improvement of drains/ storm water drains in order to reduce and eliminate flooding and creating green spaces and parks. Under AMRUT, 838 Storm Water Drainage projects worth ₹3022.39 crore have been taken up by the States/Union Territories (UTs). Further, 2,522 green spaces and park projects worth ₹1,604.13 crore have been taken up by the States/UTs under AMRUT and 5,400 acres of permeable green space area have been developed through these projects. Under AMRUT 2.0, projects for green spaces and parks and rejuvenation of water bodies are taken up by the States. Under AMRUT 2.0, proposals of the States/ UTs for 2,951 water body rejuvenation projects worth ₹6,003.34 crore covering around 1.21 lakh acres of area and 1,649 green spaces and …3/--3- park projects worth ₹1,087.12 crore covering around 12,750 acre have been approved. Besides, under AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0 sewerage and septage management projects have been undertaken, which inter alia help in evacuation of storm water. Under AMRUT, as updated by State/UTs on AMRUT portal, 888 sewerage/septage management projects have been grounded, which has led to creation of approx. 22,539 km length of sewer network. Under AMRUT 2.0, the State/UTs have taken up 605 Sewerage and Septage Management projects covering 40,021 KM of sewer network. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is the nodal authority for implementation of the Urban Flood Risk Management Programme (UFRMP). Based on the recommendations of the XV Finance Commission, an amount of ₹2,500 crore has been earmarked under the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) for UFRMP for the period 2021–26. The programme extends to phase – II that has an allocation of a total amount of ₹2444.42 crore • Phase I (Most Flood-Prone Metro Cities): The programme covers seven cities. An allocation of ₹500 crore each has been earmarked for Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, while ₹250 crore each has been allocated to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad. • Phase II (Tier-II Cities): The programme extends to eleven additional cities: Guwahati, Patna, Kanpur, Trivandrum, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, and Raipur with a sum of ₹222.22 crores to each city. The programme comprehensively aims to strengthen flood resilience through coordinated urban planning, improved drainage infrastructure, and targeted structural and non-structural flood mitigation interventions. In the Urban Flood Risk Management Programme (UFRMP) Phase I, a total of ₹2500 crore was earmarked from NDMF for seven major metropolitan cities. The D/o Expenditure has released the first instalment (except Chennai who got their 2nd instalment), to all seven cities. In October 2025, the High-Level Committee (HLC) approved phase II of Urban Flood Risk Management Programme (UFRMP) for 11 additional cities with a total outlay of ₹2200 crores. Number of projects sanctioned, NDMF/State share, and funds released are as under: …4/--4- City Mitigation NDMF State Total Released share share Budget (NDMF Measures (in Cr. ₹) (in Cr. ₹) share) (in (in Cr. ₹) Cr. ₹) Phase - I Mumbai 6 500 207.71 707.71 150 (Maharashtra) Pune (Maharashtra) 9 250 36.69 286.69 75 Hyderabad 4 250 69.53 319.53 75 (Telengana) Kolkata (West 6 500 150.43 650.43 150 Bengal) Bengaluru 12 238.72 36.28 275 71.616 (Karnataka) Ahmedabad (Gujarat) 6 243.90 31.10 275 73.17 Chennai (Tamil Nadu) 5 500 61.29 561.29 331.5 Total 48 2482.62 593.03 3075.65 926.286 Phase - II Guwahati (Assam) 8 180 20 200 54 (e): MoHUA is supporting States/ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in capacity building activities through various Schemes of the Ministry such as AMRUT/AMRUT 2.0, for improving the capacities of ULB functionaries, elected representatives, contractors, students, women and citizens. MoHUA has designated 4 Institutes in different regions as Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Urban Planning and Design, which inter alia impart certified trainings/ certified courses to Civil Servants, State Town Planners, Municipal Officials, practitioners/professionals, young students etc. These centres have been provided endowment funds of ₹ 250 crore each. Besides, MoHUA has also designated 6 institutes as AMRUT Funded Centre of Urban Planning for Capacity Building. The role envisaged for these institutes inter alia includes subject specific trainings to Municipal …5/--5- officials/ Town and Country Planning officials, augmenting capacity building of State / Local authorities and hand hold them in urban planning. *****