Minister for FCS &CA, Transport, Youth Services and Sports, Information Technology, Science and Technology, ARI and Trainings Satish Sharma today attended the 2nd meeting of Inland Waterways Development Council (IWDC) being organised by Inland Waterways Authority of India under Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways at Kaziranga, Assam.
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal presided over the event in presence of MoS Shantanu Thakur, Chief Minister Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma besides Ministers from States and senior officials.
During the event, the Ministry announced various development projects for Jammu and Kashmir including jetties for river cruise tourism and urban water transportation ecosystem in River Jhelum, repair of Chhatabal weir for proper navigation and operationalization of River Chenab and River Ravi for waterway tourism.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister Satish Sharma expressed gratitude for inviting him and blessing J&K with special projects. He emphasized that it is the need of the hour to accelerate holistic development of national waterways and inland waterways.
The Minister said that there is so much potential in terms of water tourism in J&K which can be exploited. He also asked to establish a corporation framework between state governments and IWAI for development of community jetties for facilitating movement of local community, people, passengers etc.
He also urged to provide vessels and construction of jetties at Mansar, Surisar, Dal and Wullar and establishment of passenger transport in river Jhelum, Chenab and Ravi.