New Delhi: Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supply Piyush Goyal has said inland waterways have been identified among seven prominent growth engines of development in the ambitious PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan for Multi Modal Connectivity.
He was addressing a function through video conference organised at Gaighat Inland Waterways Terminal in Patna on Saturday.
During the function, a cargo vessel carrying consignment of 200 metric tonne of food grains of Food Corporation of India (FCI) was flagged off to Pandu in Guwahati through 2500 km long stretch of India Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) waterways route. The IBP route comprises National Waterways No-1 and 2 of Indian side and river navigational route of Bangladesh.
Mr. Goyal said, inland waterways will reduce the logistic cost of cargo handling and also promote ease of doing business in the country so the NDA government has allocated 4600 crore rupees for Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) which will enhance the capacity of waterways up to cargo handling of 2000 metric tonnes.
He said, for this river shipping activities, navigation and warehousing potential is being ramped up along with establishment of several multimodal terminals.
The minister said, six new national waterways are being developed in 24 states and the number of National Waterways will increase to 112.
Earlier, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and Mr. Goyal launched the construction work of Kalughat Inland Waterways Terminal at Sonepur in Bihar along the bank of river Ganga. The project with estimated cost of 78.28 crore rupees will be completed by the end of next year. It is expected that the terminal will augment the cargo handling activities through waterways of Ganga and Gandak rivers.
