News: The Union government has launched the Jalvahak scheme to promote long-haul cargo transportation via inland waterways.
About Jalvahak Scheme
- It is a cargo promotion scheme designed to incentivize the movement of long-haul cargo through India’s national waterways.
- Nodal Ministry– Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW)
- Implementing Agency– It is jointly implemented by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Inland & Coastal Shipping Ltd (ICSL), a subsidiary of the Shipping Corporation of India.
- Aim– To harness the trade potential of inland waterways while reducing logistics costs and decongesting road and rail networks.
- National Waterways Covered:
- NW1: River Ganga.
- NW2: River Brahmaputra.
- NW16: River Barak.
- Incentive: The scheme offers cargo owners up to 35% reimbursement on operating costs for transporting goods over distances of more than 300 km via waterways.
- Scheduled Service: Fixed-day Scheduled sailings between key locations like Kolkata, Patna, Varanasi, and Pandu (Assam).
- Validity: Initially valid for three years.
- Model Shift– Schemes aim at Incentivising Modal Shift of 800 Million Tonnes KMs with an investment of ₹95.4 crores by 2027.
