The Ministry of Shipping will introduce river information service on the line of air traffic control system for safe electronic data transfer between mobile vessels and shore or base station through advance and real time exchange of information.
This was announced here on Monday by Inland Waterways Authority of India chairman Amitabh Verma. It would be first service in the country through which the whereabouts of vessels, communication and control mechanism would be developed. As per the announcement of the Union Finance Minister in his 2014-15 Budget speech a project on River Ganga called ‘Jal Marg Vikas’is being developed between Allahabad and Haldia to cover a distance of 1620km which would enable commercial navigation of at least 1500 ton vessels. Verma said, “The project will be completed over a period of six years at an estimated cost of Rs 4,200 crore. Inland Waterways Authority of India has been designated as the implementing agency for the Jal Marg Vikas project.”
The Authority on Monday held a workshop with various stakeholders to allay the misconceptions about the project including environmental pollution and danger to tortoise and dolphin sanctuaries in Ganga. He said between Varanasi and Haldia no barrage would be constructed and the vessels would be designed by the world agencies. The Inland Vessels Act, 1917 is being revisited and is likely to be presented in Parliament shortly, he added.
Verma also announced that for ferry services in Ganga three cities have identified and they are Varanasi, Patna and Kolkata. Apart from that a RoRo (roll on and roll off) service will also be introduced in Patna and three other places in Bihar for the movement of heavy vehicles which have been banned on the Ganga Setu connecting Patna to north Bihar. Such service is going on in Kochi and expected to bed flagged off in Assam on February 27, he said. When reminded of the narrowing width of Ganga in Patna, Verma said 44 meter of width would be sufficient to ply the 1,500 ton vessels.
Ganga flows in a stretch of about 600km in Bihar from Buxar down to Sahebganj. The transportation by waterways would cost 50% less than train and 33% less than road cost. This will also minimize the congestion of traffic as well as reduce pollution and accidents.