Waterways route to be extended to Bangladesh, Myanmar: Gadkari

PRAYAGRAJ :Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who on Friday inaugurated the waterways route from Prayagraj to Haldia via Varanasi, said the service will soon be extended up to Bangladesh and Myanmar.

“While airboats, which are being purchased from Germany, will begin to ply from Varanasi to Prayagraj from next month, by March 2020 people will be able to drink Ganga water directly from the river, “claimed the shipping and road transport minister here.

Accompanied by UP’s deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Gadkari also took a dip in Sangam.

He inaugurated the phase 2 of the River Information System (RIS) on National Waterway-1 between Farakka and Patna (410 km) besides unveiling new arrangement of Navigation Lock at Farakka that would enable breeding of Hilsa fish in Ganga.

“It (Hilsa breeding) will also help preserve the river ecosystem,” he said while announcing that said four river ports will soon be constructed in Prayagraj.

He said 14 people could sit at a time in one airboat and the same would be able to move at a maximum speed of 80 kilometre per hour. Insisting that the cost of transporting goods through waterways was much cheaper than through road or air, the union minister said the national waterway will enhance swift electronic data transfer between mobile vessels and shore (base stations) through advance and real-time exchange of information besides help monitoring of boats plying on the route.

He informed that work of Rs 5,500 crore will be carried out on the route by Inland Waterways Authority of India. The RIS is a form of vessel traffic management done through next generation technology.

It helps in crisis management and enhances inland navigation safety by preventing ship-to-ship collisions, ship-bridge collisions, groundings etc. It works on the lines of Air Traffic Controls.

The services are being used in advanced waterways of Europe, China and USA.

Under phase II, five base stations – Mannihari, Bhagalpur, Munger, Barh and Hatidah and one control station have been made at Patna.

Under Jal Marg Vikas Pariyojana, a fish pass has been envisaged for its free movement at Farakka Navigation Lock.