Coal news and updates

Lakhipur-Bhanga waterway yet to get govt okay

April 30: The Union Cabinet had approved introduction of a Bill for announcing the Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of 121 km of the Barak river in Assam as the 6th National Waterway. However, though this waterway had been proposed, Parliament has not cleared it so far and the Bill has lapsed, a source informed ICMW.

The source said that since this waterway is bordering Bangladesh, Parliament has sought further clarity on it, for strategic reasons. “It had been held up for long. Clarity is not there. The government, may be, wanted to move a bit slowly on this from the strategic point of view since it borders Bangladesh. But this waterway has not yet been declared,” said the source.

The National Waterway (Lakhipur-Bhanga Stretch of the Barak River) Bill, 2013 had been introduced in the Rajya Sabha on March 22, 2013 and proposed to declare and develop the above-mentioned stretch of the Barak river as National Waterway 6 (NW-6). The Bill had been referred to the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on the same day with the committee submitting its report on June 26, 2013. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 14, 2013.

The government had earlier introduced the National Waterway (Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of the Barak River) Bill, 2007 in the Lok Sabha in 2007. The previous Bill had lapsed due to dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha. The contents of both the bills are, however, the same.

According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, the current infrastructure facilities for the Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch are inadequate for shipping and navigation by large mechanised vessels. Hence, the government had decided to provide adequate infrastructure along the proposed waterway through IWAI.