Five Goa rivers among 101 national waterways

Mandovi, Chapora, Zuari, Cumbharjua and Sal rivers have potential for passenger and domestic cargo transportation

Published on:

26 Mar 2015, 6:54 pm

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has cleared a new legislation declaring Mandovi, Chapora, Zuari, Cumberjua and Sal rivers as having immense potential for passenger as well as domestic cargo transportation. These are among the 101 national waterways all over the country.

Announcing this at a press conference on Thursday, Union Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Central legislation will enable the Centre to take over development of these waterways that are cheaper than transportation by rail or road. He said development of these waterways will also reduce pressure on road and rail.

He pointed out that only five waterways have been declared the national waterways in the last 30 years, including the longest 1620-km long Allahabad-Haldia stretch of Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system and the 1078-km long Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of canals along the Godavari and Krishna rivers.

At present waterways in Goa are being used mostly by fishing boats, boat cruises and as anchoring spots for offshore casinos. There also exists a little barge traffic, which has reduced considerably since the ban on mining operations. Besides this, despite a lot of plans, the State’s extensive waterways are not used much even though increasing vehicular traffic is causing traffic jams on the roads.

Other proposed waterways

u Indira Gandhi canal in Rajasthan;

u Kalyan-Thane-Mumbai waterway, Amba, Arunwati or Aran, Nag, Penganga, Savitri, Jaigad and Ulhas rivers in Maharashtra;

u Wainganga covering Maharashtra and MP;

u Krishna and Manjara rivers covering Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana;

u Luni river covering Rajasthan and Gujarat;

u Mahi river covering Rajasthan, Gujarat and MP;

u Narmada covering Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh;

u Tons covering MP and UP; and

u Sabarmati and Tapi in Gujarat