Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday announced five major initiatives, focusing on green shipping and digitisation of the ports, by his Ministry to make India a global leader in the maritime sector. The five initiatives or ‘Panch Karma Sankalp’, as termed by the Minister, were announced after the conclusion of his Ministry’s second Chintan Shivir held at Munnar here, a government statement said.
The ‘Panch Karma Sankalp’ include 30 per cent financial support from the Ministry for promoting green shipping, procuring two tugs each for the Jawaharlal Nehru, VO Chidambaranar, Paradip and Deendayal ports under the green tug transition programme and developing hydrogen hubs at some of these ports, it said.
“Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we affirm our commitment to make a solid attempt at green shipping and digitising operations for maximum efficiency with an aim to become world leader in the maritime sector,” Sonowal said, according to the statement.
The other two initiatives are — setting up a single window portal to facilitate and monitor river and sea cruises and turning Jawaharlal Nehru, VO Chidambaranar and Tuticorin into smart ports by next year, it said.
The Minister, after the Chintan Shivir concluded, said that these initiatives will help to bring in more sustainable development in the maritime sector.
“By bringing in the sustainable element in a robust manner, we are aiming at achieving a transformational transportation which is effective, efficient and energetic,” he said.
The Minister also said that he will review the progress with respect to these targets in a mid-year Chintan Shivir after a few months and warned of strict action in-case of any delay in completion of the projects, according to the statement. During the Chintan Shivir, there were in-depth analysis and discussions on improving port administration, standardisation and share of cargo handling in major ports and how to enhance cargo, VGF, PPP in inland waterways and coastal shipping, the statement said.
