KATHUA,
SEPTEMBER 01: District Development Commissioner Kathua Ramesh Kumar today chaired a
meeting for undertaking preliminary exercise on the scope and modalities of
Inland Waterways in River Ravi which is declared National Waterways River
(NW-84) by IWAI.
Pertinent to mention here that State Government and Inland Waterways
Authority of India (IWAI) has taken steps to explore inland waterways transport
facilities besides exploring the tourism on the declared National Waterways of
the J&K State. The team of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will
visit River Ravi in coming days to work out the modalities for tapping inland
waterways.
The DDC
said the purpose was to explore the possibilities of inland waterways operation
in Ranjit Sagar Dam Reservoir over River Ravi which flows through the three
states Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and J&K has been declared as National
Waterways 84 with a length of 42 kms. The meeting held detail deliberations on
identifying the feasible ferrying routes for jeeties, criss cross points,
keeping in mind the key aspects like local demography, road connectivity etc.
was held in the meeting.
The DDC
said there is huge potential of water transport, tourism, cargo transportation
of local fruits and vegetables, dairy, fisheries, PDS
grains, building material etc.
He said that the project will give
huge fillip to the economic activities of the area besides opening avenues of
tourism and saving transportation time and cost.
He directed ADC Basohli, CEO LSDA, XEN PWD (R&B) Basohli, DFO
Basohli and Tehsildar Mahanpur to conduct a survey in the area from Ranjit
Sagar Dam site upto Sewa Project Site to identify the potential stretches for
development of waterways for transportation and recreational activities.