Indian Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has sought the State Government’s help in tackling local goons and levy extortionists around Sahibganj Multi Modal Site.
In its first Project Foresight Committee (PFC) meeting in the State of Jharkhand on Monday, IWAI Chairperson Nutan Guha Biswas asked State Government officials present at the meeting to help the contractor company in keeping such goons away from the site.
IWAI vice-chairman Pravir Pandey said after meeting that Jharkhand was ahead of rest of the three stakeholder states, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, in terms of offering support to completion of waterways project from Banaras to Haldia which was announced in July 2014. But the only problem the company developing Multi Modal Terminal at Sahibganj under the project was levy mongering and demand of jobs.
He added that the members present in the meeting also discussed river policing just like independent policing wing for Indian railways. “When over 200 ships start operating on Banaras-Haldia route with big ticket items like four wheelers and other expensive goods, we would require separate policing wing to look after those and other affairs. The members discussed this issue at length and found all four states agreeing on working it out,” said Pandey.
“None of the officials of contractor company has ever been threatened with life or harassed in Sahibganj.
However, there have been instances of frequent levy demands for every other work. We also faced a similar problem in West Bengal which was resolved after police pickets were established around worksite in Haldia,” said Pandey.
The meeting where Joint Transport Commissioner Shekhar Jamuar, Sahibganj Additional Collector Anmol Kumar and Revenue Director K Srinivasan represented Jharkhand also saw representatives and officials of three other States and Central Water Commission discussing issues and challenges in the project.
He added after first PFC meeting in Jharkhand that local government was ahead of other states, otherwise, in providing all kinds of support for Jharkhand stretch of Banaras-Haldia waterways project which after targeted completion in 2022 will be able to transport around 21 Million Ton (MT) of goods including cement, four wheelers, two wheelers, essential commodities, minerals, fly ash and other materials every year through the Ganges.
“We are facing more challenges in other states. But in Jharkhand, we have been already handed over 70 acres of land out of required 180 acres so far. As many as 275 families have to be replaced and rehabilitated in Sahibganj, in which we have successfully paid for rehabilitation cost of 123 families. We have also paid for 16 acres of land on which rehabilitation has to be done, and we are only breathing ease after locals said that they will be constructing houses on allotted land with their own design,” said Pandey where IWAI Member (Traffic) Srikant Mahiyaria, Member (Finance) Alok Ranjan, Member (Technical) SK Gangwar and Secretary Shashi Bhushan Shukla were also present.
IWAI Member Mahiyaria stressed upon traffic side of the project. He said that the overall transportation cost was about to fall drastically once the project became operational by 2022. He expressed satisfaction over progress of entire project and said that the project must be operational before targeted time.ity of India (IWAI) has sought the State Government’s help in tackling local goons and levy extortionists around Sahibganj Multi Modal Site.
In its first Project Foresight Committee (PFC) meeting in the State of Jharkhand on Monday, IWAI Chairperson Nutan Guha Biswas asked State Government officials present at the meeting to help the contractor company in keeping such goons away from the site.
IWAI vice-chairman Pravir Pandey said after meeting that Jharkhand was ahead of rest of the three stakeholder states, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, in terms of offering support to completion of waterways project from Banaras to Haldia which was announced in July 2014. But the only problem the company developing Multi Modal Terminal at Sahibganj under the project was levy mongering and demand of jobs.
He added that the members present in the meeting also discussed river policing just like independent policing wing for Indian railways. “When over 200 ships start operating on Banaras-Haldia route with big ticket items like four wheelers and other expensive goods, we would require separate policing wing to look after those and other affairs. The members discussed this issue at length and found all four states agreeing on working it out,” said Pandey.
“None of the officials of contractor company has ever been threatened with life or harassed in Sahibganj.
However, there have been instances of frequent levy demands for every other work. We also faced a similar problem in West Bengal which was resolved after police pickets were established around worksite in Haldia,” said Pandey.
The meeting where Joint Transport Commissioner Shekhar Jamuar, Sahibganj Additional Collector Anmol Kumar and Revenue Director K Srinivasan represented Jharkhand also saw representatives and officials of three other States and Central Water Commission discussing issues and challenges in the project.
He added after first PFC meeting in Jharkhand that local government was ahead of other states, otherwise, in providing all kinds of support for Jharkhand stretch of Banaras-Haldia waterways project which after targeted completion in 2022 will be able to transport around 21 Million Ton (MT) of goods including cement, four wheelers, two wheelers, essential commodities, minerals, fly ash and other materials every year through the Ganges.
“We are facing more challenges in other states. But in Jharkhand, we have been already handed over 70 acres of land out of required 180 acres so far. As many as 275 families have to be replaced and rehabilitated in Sahibganj, in which we have successfully paid for rehabilitation cost of 123 families. We have also paid for 16 acres of land on which rehabilitation has to be done, and we are only breathing ease after locals said that they will be constructing houses on allotted land with their own design,” said Pandey where IWAI Member (Traffic) Srikant Mahiyaria, Member (Finance) Alok Ranjan, Member (Technical) SK Gangwar and Secretary Shashi Bhushan Shukla were also present.
IWAI Member Mahiyaria stressed upon traffic side of the project. He said that the overall transportation cost was about to fall drastically once the project became operational by 2022. He expressed satisfaction over progress of entire project and said that the project must be operational before targeted time.