Tourist boats. Representative image.
Reuters
Kaziranga (Assam): The vessels plying on Indian seas and rivers will soon run on solar energy.
In a significant push to green energy, the Union Ministry of Water Transport on Friday announced that it has decided to convert 1,000 cargo and passenger vessels into solar energy in the next five years. "As we have been revamping the entire inland water transport system, its popularity is growing fast.
The volume of cargo movement has increased from 18.01 metric tons in 2014 to 133 metric tons now. Now we are trying to convert it into an eco-friendly mode of transport by using solar power," Sonowal said after a meeting of the Inland Waterways Development Councl (IWDC) here at Kaziranga National Park in eastern Assam.
"We are starting with the cargo vessels and gradually cover the passenger vessels too," Sonowal further said.
On Friday, the ministry announced its plan to increase investment from about Rs. 7,000 crores at present to Rs. 50,000 crores in the next five years. "The allocation for inland water transport was just Rs. 1,500 till 2014. But since 2014, we took up the system very seriously and increased the investment to Rs. 7,000 crores. We have been constantly trying to enhance capacity to encourage promotion of water transport and thereby try to reduce the load on our road and rail networks," Sonowal said.
Projects worth Rs. 1,400 crores were inaugurated or foundation were laid by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Sonowal here on Friday. A National River Traffic and Navigation System and a central database module were among the major projects inaugurated on Friday.
Sonowal said the ministry recently launched a project named as Jal Bahak under which incentives upto 35 per cent will also be provided to transporters opting for water transport on the National Waterways 1 (Ganga) and National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra) for three years. "We are also trying to introduce urban water transport system in at least 15 cities including Guwahati. This will be done in the line of a system already operating in Cochin. We will also set up regional centres of excellence in different regions for skill development and capacity enhancement activities to push the sector."
The Ministry has also decided to start a community development scheme for the riverine communities in the line of a similar project for those living along the country's 7,50kms coastal line from Gujarat to Bengal.
When asked about possible impact of the ongoing instability in neighbourig Bangladesh on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route, Sonowal said, "Our vessels between Kolkata and Assam via Bangladesh waterways are plying smoothly." A cargo vessel carrying 1,500MT goods from Kolkata reached Assam recently, via Bangladesh.