It is indeed a significant milestone in the development of inland waterways: The first container transport cargo vessel was flagged off in Kolkata to reach Varanasi in the river Ganges. This is part of National Waterway-1, under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, from Haldia to Varanasi – a distance of 1,390 km – at a cost of around Rs 5,369 crore, with technical and financial assistance from the World Bank.

The present government also envisions ambitious Sagar Mala project, which aims to reduce rail and road traffic, handling costs, pilferage and damage, also enables reduction in carbon footprints. Under it, 266 ports are set to be modernised with a total investment of more than Rs 1.45 lakh crore over the next 10 years.

Gadkari deserves appreciation for professional implementation of these capital intensive Infrastructure projects (without any scams)…