Pariksha SaathiC. R. Patil chairs the 19th meeting of the Ganga Flood Control Board in New Delhi; Board deliberates on the revised mandate and restructuring of the Ganga Flood Control Commission
The 19th meeting of the Ganga Flood Control Board (GFCB) was held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 27 October 2026 under the chairmanship of Union Minister of Jal Shakti C. R. Patil, the Ministry of Jal Shakti said on 29 October 2026. It was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ram Nath Thakur, NITI Aayog Member Prof. K. V. Raju, Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Uttar Pradesh's Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh, along with representatives of the Ganga Basin States. The GFCB was constituted by the Government of India on 18 April 1972 to facilitate coordinated planning and implementation of measures to address flood, erosion and drainage problems in the Ganga Basin; it is chaired by the Union Minister of Jal Shakti, comprises representatives of the concerned Central Ministries and the Chief Ministers of the Ganga Basin States or their representatives, and has the Chairman of the Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC) as its Member Secretary. At the meeting the Minister launched the Punah Bharan Mobile App, developed by the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics in collaboration with the National Water Mission, to help identify suitable locations for artificial groundwater recharge. The Board deliberated on the revised mandate and restructuring of the GFCC, which includes strengthening basin-level flood management planning, appraisal of flood management schemes, river morphology and sedimentation studies and the development of a Flood Management Information System (FMIS), and the discussions covered risk-based basin Master Plans, the adequacy of waterways and ventways under bridges, better-quality Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and the timely implementation of flood management projects.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
A Ministry of Jal Shakti resolution of 11 May 2026, published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary), amended the erstwhile Ministry of Irrigation and Power's resolution of 18 April 1972 that constituted the Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC). It redesignated the Commission's Chairman as 'Chairman, Ganga Flood Control Commission cum Member (Floods)' and added four functions: appraisal of flood management schemes, including externally aided schemes and those received from the National Disaster Management Authority and the Brahmaputra Board; preparation of Master Plans for river basins other than those of the North Eastern Region, which is currently looked after by the Brahmaputra Board; river morphological and sedimentation studies; and a 'Flood Management Information System' dashboard mapping flood management and anti-erosion works, with the area and population benefited, across all States. The resolution says the Commission's headquarters will be at Patna, but its Chairman and its Member (Planning) cum Chief Engineer (Flood Appraisal) are to be attached to the Central Water Commission headquarters in New Delhi.
Check yourself: where is the Ganga Flood Control Commission's headquarters, and which body looks after Master Plans for the North Eastern Region?
Patna; the Brahmaputra Board.
Revision task: from this release, note the meeting number, venue, date and chair, who sits on the Board and who is its Member Secretary, the date the Board was constituted, the app launched and who developed it, and the elements of the GFCC's revised mandate; from the note, the date of the resolution, the functions it added, the GFCC's headquarters and the body that handles the North Eastern Region's Master Plans.
Test yourself
Who chaired the 19th meeting of the Ganga Flood Control Board, held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 27 October 2026?
Show the answer
Answer: C. R. Patil
Union Minister of Jal Shakti C. R. Patil chaired the 19th meeting of the Ganga Flood Control Board; West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Uttar Pradesh's Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh attended it. The Board, constituted on 18 April 1972, is chaired by the Union Minister of Jal Shakti, and the Chairman of the Ganga Flood Control Commission is its Member Secretary.
Read the daily collection → · Editorial standards & corrections