With a changed name, the Ministry will put extra focus on the development of waterways & coastal shipping: Mansukh Mandaviya

Following the announcement, made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of renaming Ministry of Shipping to Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Shipping, states during the formal unveiling of plaque ceremony, “It is indeed a matter of pride that with Prime Minister’s vision, the country is moving ahead with a holistic and long-term approach of multi-modal connectivity.” He added that he is indeed grateful to Prime Minister for his foresight regarding the expansion of the scope of work as far as ports, shipping and waterways are concerned. He says, “With the changed name, the Ministry is going to put extra focus on the development of Waterways and coastal shipping. Around 1400 km of waterways have already been fully developed and additional 1000 km is being developed on priority for which DPR/feasibility study has been completed. We are also focusing for creation of a Port Grid, encompassing various smaller ports like fisheries port, agriculture port and mineral port etc so that port development and port-led development takes place in the country.”

Sanjeev Ranjan, Secretary & Sanjay Bandopadhyaya, Addl Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Dr. Amita Prasad, Chairman, IWAI, Amitabh Kumar, DG Shipping, T.K. Ramachandran, Chairman, IPA, along with chairmen of all the major ports and senior officials of the Ministry attended the ceremony through video conferencing.

While making this historic announcement, PM said “Now this Ministry will be known as Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. It is being expanded. In most of the developed economies, the Shipping Ministry is also responsible for Ports and Waterways. In India, the Shipping Ministry has been doing a lot of work related to Ports and Waterways. Now with more clarity in the name, more clarity will also come in the work.”

As soon as the Prime Minister announced the name change, the Ministry swung into action to complete all the related formalities. All the formalities were completed within two working days and the official notification of the name change was published in the Gazette of India on November 10, 2020.