India's inland cargo movement records 16% increase in 2022-23

New Delhi: Cargo movement on national waterways in the country has recorded a 16 per cent yearly increase in 2022-23, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal informed Parliament in a written reply to a question on Tuesday.

The government was asked by a member whether there was any increase in traffic on national waterways in the past two years. The traffic between Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia (NW-l) increased from 10.93 million tonnes in 2021-22 to 13.17 million tonnes in 2022-23, minister Sonowal said in his written reply to a specific question on the increase in traffic between Varanasi and Haldia.

The government was also asked whether any plan has been formulated to strengthen the infrastructure in view of increased traffic.

The minister apprised the Rajya Sabha that the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is implementing Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of National Waterway-l (NW-l) between Haldia-Varanasi (l390 km) at an estimated cost of Rs 4,633.8l crore. The objective of the project is to enhance the transport efficiency and reliability of National Waterways 1.

The project comprises of several components such as the development of multimodal terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj, and Haldia; the intermodal terminal at Kalughat; navigational facilities, among others.