Promising to overhaul the five existing National Waterways (NWs) within six months, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said Parliament’s nod will be sought on the Bill to convert 101 rivers across the country into NWs.
In a bid to boost transportation of goods and passengers through waterways, the Cabinet yesterday gave its nod to plans for enactment of a legislation for converting 101 river stretches across the country into National Waterways.
“I am confident that we will get Parliament's nod (on the Bill) in the second leg of the ongoing Budget session, which will usher in economic growth for the country,” Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari told presspersons here.
“Work is already underway to augment five existing NWs, including the 1,620-km Allahabad-Haldia stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirath-Hooghly river system, for which the World Bank has approved assistance of Rs 4,200 crore,” he said.
No barrages will be built on the Varanasi-Haldia stretch as being “wrongly projected” and advanced technology will be used to ensure the smooth flow of river water, he added.
Major projects are underway on the five existing waterways and within six months it will “revolutionise” water transport in the country, keeping pace with global trends, as in places such as Europe where all industries are on the banks of rivers, utilising the cheaper mode for transportation, he said.
Inland Waterways (IWWs) is a much cheaper and environment-friendly mode of transportation as “one HP moves 150 kg on road, 500 kg on rail and 4000 kg on water”. Besides, “one litre of fuel moves 24 tonne/km on road, 85 tonne/km on rail and 105 tonne/km on IWW”.
Regretting that such an important mode of transport has so far taken a backseat, Gadkari said, “Waterways have a meagre share of 0.3 per cent in India as compared to 42 per cent in the Netherlands, 16 per cent in China and and over 7 per cent in the US. This is a great economic opportunity loss to India.”
He said in the next five-six years on IWWs, there would be over 1,000 new barges which will provide direct employment to 20,000 people.
The five river stretches declared National Waterways are the Allahabad-Haldia stretch on the Ganga (1,620 km), Brahmaputra’s Dhubri-Sadiya (891 km), West Coast Canal Kottapuram-Kollam (205 km), Kakinada-Puducherry canals (1,078 km) and the East Coast Canal integrated with the Brahmani river and the Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km).
Earlier, he said consultants have been appointed for 55 rivers and detailed project reports (DPR) would be formulated once the necessary approvals were in place.
The projects would be executed on a public-private-partnership basis, he said.
Inland waterways comprising rivers, lakes, canals, creeks and backwaters extend to about 14,500 km across the country.