Modi government flagship project of transporting goods through inland waterways can help the government save Rs 10000 crores , according to Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari. The ministry is trying to convert 11 rivers across the country as Inland waterways and plans to invest in this direction .
According to Nitin Gadkari ” Inland waterways will help in saving logistics costs and boost movement of goods and passengers across the country. Besides, they will also save around Rs 10,000 crore per year while transporting coal, a crucial resource. I am hopeful that Parliament will approve the bill to convert 111 rivers across India into National Waterway. We expect the ports to register a profit of Rs 6,000 crore this fiscal, which the government will invest to create assets to spur growth.”
It is a cheaper and Eco friendly medium of transportation of goods as one Horse Power of Energy can be utilized to transport 150 kg on road, 500 kg on rail and 4,000 kg on water besides one litre of fuel moves 24 tonne/km on road, 85 tonne/km on rail and 105 tonne/km on water.
He also added that there will be a massive change in the infrastructure in near future as government is planning to convert many 4 lane highways into 8 lanes and large number of express highways will be turned in express ways. The move is controversial though as there was an uproar in parliament on land acquisition by the government . It will be interesting to see what turn does the government takes in recent times in this direction .
Vaibhav Attree 