The inland waterways project won’t choke rivers
It will rejuvenate the Ganga by creating a ‘Room for River’, an effective model for flood mitigation and conservation
Manoj Misra, in ‘The Inland Waterways Project Will Destroy India’s Rivers’ (January 4), has claimed that the project (IWT) is neither economically viable nor environmentally friendly. Both these claims are untrue.
The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) — Varanasi to Haldia on National Waterway 1 — has an economic internal rate of return of 21.40%, according to analyses by consultants engaged through global bidding for Detailed Feasibility and Engineering Studies. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is developing standardised vessels for the National Waterway 1 that have a shallow draft and high carrying capacity. These vessels will need a depth of 2.2 to 3 metres and a channel width of 45 metres only even though the Ganga is almost 2.5 kilometres wide at some stretches.
According to the dredging (desilting) management plan for JMVP, dredged material will not be deposited outside the river. The bed of the river is not being disturbed. Only maintenance dredging will be done to desilt 20 % bed load silt even as 80% of silt is in suspension.
In December 2017, the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC), has confirmed that under JMVP, prior Environmental Clearance for Maintenance Dredging, construction of terminals, jetties etc are not required. However, a green assessment has still been undertaken for every proposed component in JMVP.
Thanks to a thoroughly scrutinised Environment Management Plan, IWAI has got wildlife clearance for navigation through the Kashi Turtle Sanctuary, Varanasi, from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and the Coastal Regulation Zone clearance for MultiModal Terminal at Haldia from the MoEF&CC on November 6, 2017. The results of a study, ‘Impact assessment of coal transportation through barges along the National Waterway No.1 (Sagar to Farakka) along river Ganga’, by ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Barrackpore has revealed no significant changes in water quality parameters. Dredging is not being carried out in the entire stretch of Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary. The Inland Water Transport (IWT) mode is cheaper even if the cargo is transported one way only.
JMVP will help rejuvenate the river Ganga by creating a Room for River, a model that has proved to be an effective flood mitigating and river conservancy measure internationally.
It is empirically impossible not to be convinced that Inland Water Transport (IWT) is the most environment friendly, cost effective and sustainable mode of transport.