IIT(BHU) Varanasi to co-host the finale on Re-imagining Urban Rivers
Varanasi: The finale of Season-2 of the thesis competition on “Re-imagining Urban Rivers”, organized by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), will be held at the Department of Architecture, Planning and Design, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi on July 28 and 29.
Giving this information, the head of the department of Architecture, Planning and Design Prof. Rajesh Kumar said that this competition has been running since 2020 on an annual basis and is open to Bachelors and Masters students from any discipline across the country. The competition was designed to provide students with an opportunity to come up with blue sky and innovative solutions for re-imagining the outlook and management of rivers that flow through Indian cities.
He said that 20 students, 10 each from Bachelors and Masters categories, will present their thesis work in the finale at IIT (BHU) over two days. The topics range from integrating river thinking in urban planning, engaging tribals for river management, developing river-centric transit-oriented development, using machine learning to forecast river water quality. The students’ presentation will be evaluated by a panel of jury that include Rajiv Ranjan Mishra (former Director General, NMCG), S. Vishwanath (Director, Biome Environmental Solutions), and Gaurav Raheja (Professor, IIT Roorkee).
The joint head of the department of Architecture, Planning, and Design, Indra Kumar Singh informed that the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Durga Shankar Mishra will give away the awards for the top three performers in each category on July 29. Other dignitaries expected to be present online or in person for the awards ceremony include the IIT(BHU director Prof. Pramod Kumar Jain, the director NIUA Hitesh Vaidya, the Director General NMCG, G. Ashok Kumar, the Mission director, AMRUT, D. Thara, the divisional commissioner of Varanasi, Deepak Agarwal, Varanasi municipal commissioner, Pranay Singh, and the vice chairman of the Varanasi Development Authority, Isha Duhan.
He said that the Season-3 of the competition will also be launched by the chief secretary on the occasion. The event marks another successful year of tapping young minds and engaging with the academia to come up with creative, ground-breaking solutions and mainstream river-sensitive development in the Indian cities.
