Rapid rise in Inland water transport aimed to remove land locked nature of Hindi heartland

The Inland water transport system with Varanasi as the base has handled 126.15 million tons of cargo during last year as against mere 6.83 million tons when the bjp government came to power in 2014 Ports Minister Sarbananda Sonawal informed the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of his Ministry on December 22nd

During the meeting, Mr Sonowal informed that, ‘Cargo handling in National Waterways has grown by more than 1700 per cent to 126.15 million metric tons (MMT) in 2022-23 from 6.83 MMT in 2013-14

(The BJP government focused on development of Inland water transport in the river Ganges and Brahamaputra and invested thousands of crores on development of cargo terminals in Varanasi  Sahibganj in Bihar and Haldia in West Bengal. The government has ensured that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar no longer suffered from the handicap of their land locked nature.)

Mr Sonawal said the India Ports have handled 151 million tons of coastal cargo during last year as against about 75 million tons before the BJP government assumed office in 2014

The Ministry of Ports, has identified a total potential of 1300 MTPA cargo movement by coastal shipping by 2047’

The Ports Ministry has introduced green channel clearance, First and last mile road and rail connectivity, Sectoral plans for Efficient Logistics (SPEL) under National logistics policy. for the promotion of coastal shipping.‘Government has taken various projects under the Sagarmala Program for enhancement of Coastal Cargo handling capacity and facilitation of passenger movement along the coast.

Five dedicated coastal berths have been developed, creating handling capacity of 6.34 MTPA. Apart from this 10 projects of RoRo/RoPax Jetties, Passenger Jetties etc. worth Rs. 527 Cr crore have also been completed’

To facilitate the coastal vessels the Ports Ministry has also introduced priority berthing policy and Green channel clearance for faster evacuation of coastal cargo at ports. A discount of 40 per cent is offered by major ports on vessel and cargo related charges to coastal cargo vessels. After looking at the potential the government has also reduced GST on bunker fuels used in Indian Flag Vessels from 18 to 5 percent.