Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday dedicated first multi-modal terminal constructed on river Ganga in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi. He reiterated that the foundation stones for various projects have been laid to make Ganga pollution-free.
"Today is a historic day for all Indians. For the first time since Independence, we are using our extensive river network for commercial purpose at this scale. Varanasi should have had these projects decades ago, which we have finally made possible now," he said. "Being a Member of Parliament (MP) from Varanasi and the Prime Minister of the nation, my happiness has doubled," he added.
The Prime Minister said with the completion of the multi-modal terminal, east Uttar Pradesh has now been connected to the Bay of Bengal. In his address, Prime Minister Modi also mentioned about his trip to Kedarnath on Diwali and said that he was feeling lucky to be a part Ganga 'darshan' just a week after his visit to the holy hill shrine.
"At Kedarnath, I offered prayers to Lord Baba Kedarnath. Today I offered prayer to Maa Ganga in Varanasi," he said. Prime Minister Modi also laid the foundation stones for various projects on the occasion, which are aimed at making river Ganga pollution-free.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, while speaking about development plans for Varanasi, said that the decision to use water as a means of transport was taken in 1986 but no work was properly started before the NDA came to power at the Centre in 2014. "This year, we will transport 80 lakh tonnes of cargo," he said.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath thanked Prime Minister Modi for infrastructure projects. He said, "On behalf of 23 crore people of Uttar Pradesh, I thank Prime Minister Modi for launching First multi-modal terminal of the country."
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It is worth noting that this is the first of four multi-modal terminals being constructed on NW-I (River Ganga) as part of the World Bank-aided Jal Marg Vikas project of the Inland Waterways Authority of India. The other three terminals are under construction at Sahibganj, Haldia, and Gazipur. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with a capacity of
1500-2,000 DWT on river Ganga.
The project, an inland port, has been unveiled as Prime Minister Modi received India's first container vessel that sailed from Kolkata on the inland waterway on October 30, carrying cargo belonging to food and beverage giant PepsiCo India.