Date:09/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/09/stories/2006120903361300.htm

National

Bills on waterways introduced

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI : A bill seeking to accord national waterways status on certain canals on the Godavari and the Krishna rivers in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

It seeks to declare the Kakinada-Pondicherry stretch of canals comprising the Kakinada canal, Eluru canal, Commamur canal, Buckingham canal and Kaluvelly tank, Bhadrachalam-Rajahmundry stretch of river Godavari and the Wazirabad-Vijayawada stretch of river Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry a national waterway.

Another bill seeks to confer the status on canals on the Matai and the Mahanadi delta rivers between West Bengal and Orissa.

Shipping Minister T. R. Baalu introduced the two legislative proposals that would pave the way for the regulation and development of the waterways by the Inland Waterways Authority of India.