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The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Thiru T. R. Baalu today said that the Government has initiated steps for declaration of three new National Waterways, namely Kakinada-Pondicherry Canal integrated with the Godavari and Krishna rivers, the Barak river and the East Coast canal integrated with the Brahmani river. The first of these proposed National Waterways passes through Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the second is entirely in Assam but is connected with Haldia and Kolkata ports through the waterways in Bangladesh, and the third is in Orissa and West Bengal, he said. He was speaking at the fifth Meeting of the Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament attached with the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, here. The subject for the Meeting was ‘Inland Waterways’.
Speaking on the occasion, Thiru Baalu said that because of its cost effectiveness and environment friendly nature, inland water transport has been identified as a thrust area by the Government, whereby the modal share of inland water transport is targeted to be increased from the below one percent at present to at least two percent in the next ten years. He said that with the declaration of three new National Waterways, a length of 1,858 km would be added to the existing National Waterway network, that includes (i) the Ganga between Allahabad and Haldia (NW 1- a length of 1620 km), (ii) the Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of river Brahmputra (NW 2- a length of 891 km) and (iii) the Kollam-Kottapuram stretch of the West Coast Canal alongwith the Champakara and the Udyogmandal Canals (NW 3- a length of 205 km).
“In the Ninth Plan, a sum of approximately Rs. 150 crore was invested for development and maintenance of infrastructure on the three National Waterways. In the Tenth Plan, the budgetary provision has increased to Rs. 636.73 crore for inland water transport infrastructure development. Our objective is to make the three existing National Waterways fully operational by the end of the Tenth Plan and initiate development works on the proposed National Waterways from the next year onwards”, the Minister informed.
“For development of waterways other than national waterways, the Central Government provides 100 % financial support by way of grant in the North-Eastern States and 90 % in the other States under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. In 2003-04, the Ministry has sanctioned 15 projects in six States costing about Rs. 50 crore, and an initial release of Rs. 9.85 crore was also made. In 2004-05, 7 projects at a cost of Rs. 23 crore have been sanctioned and funds to the tune of Rs. 16 crore have been released to the States. To encourage cargo movement and to demonstrate its viability, fixed schedule sailings are being undertaken on NW 1. For increasing the number of inland water transport vessels, acquisition of vessels by operators is being encouraged through subsidy scheme, under which 30% cost of an inland vessel is subsidised by the Central Government. So far, in principle approval for 33 vessels has been accorded under the scheme”, Thiru Baalu said.
The Minister said that to provide an impetus to development of inland water transport, the Government has approved the Inland Water Transport Policy, which includes several fiscal concessions and policy guidelines for rapid development of the mode and to encourage private sector participation in inland water transport.
The Meeting was attended by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Shri K.H. Muniyappa, Shri M. Rajamohan Reddy, Smt. D. Purandareswari, Shri Chegondi V. H. Jogaiah, Shri Anantha Venkatarami Reddy, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Shri Harishchandra D. Dewan, Shri Krishna Murari Moghe, Shri Vinod Khanna, Shri S. Ajaya Kumar, Ms. V. Radhika Selvi, Shri Kamala Prasad, Shri Laxman Rao Patil, Shri Hari Kewal Prasad, Shri G. Karunakaran Reddy, Shri Lakshman Chandra Seth, Shri Santosh Gangwar, Shri Rishang Keishing, Dr. T. Subbarami Reddi, Shri Manoj Bhattacharya and Dr. Alladi P. Rajkumar, all Members of Parliament, and senior officials of Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.
NSD/BS
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