PANJIM:?After the ban on mining left barge owners without business, Atul Jadhav, president Goa Barge Owners Association felt the decision by the Union Minister to reduce tax incidence could encourage growth in the transport of goods through coastal vessels.
Mr Jadhav felt it was time that barges starting plying along the 7516 km of Indian coastline. In 2004 he said there were forty six mini trunk carriers which had now reduced to twenty six only.
This he felt constituted a gross negligence of a valuable and cheaper mode of transport. The government he said had allocated Rs 37,800 crore on the development of roads and other essential infrastructure.
Such allocation was not made for coastal transport. They were infact treated on par with foreign going vessels when it came to paying various levies. The western coast of India was ideal for barges going right up to Gujarat because the wave height between Oct and May was not more than 2 metres and this was verified by a study conducted by INCOIS. Mr Jadhav said now the Fm had reduced tax on coastal shipping making it cheaper by twelve percent which would now make it compete for business with land transport.
The state he said had to get in cement, steel, food for everyday consumption. This could help reduce costs and reducing inflation.
Asked when he intended to move in that direction he said “ we would like to sort out our present problems that is the payment of loans and remember we will need approximately a crore to overhaul the barge to be able to do those long haul journeys”. He refused to provide a time frame but said it was something barge owners would have to look at given that the mining boom of the old days was as good as gone and there would not be as much hauling of ore to be exported like in the past.
He said “The current situation faced by the barge owners is desperate. Thirty five barges have been sold, they are distress sales and seventy barges are out of the state”. The barge owners owe approximately Rs 300 crore to various financial institutions.
There are approximately three hundred odd barges in the state idling away in the rivers of the state.
