Saturday, 11 December 2021 | PNS | Roorkee
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee signed a memorandum of understanding with Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to carry out a project on stabilisation of navigational channel at 17 locations along a stretch of the Ganga river from Varanasi to Sahibganj. This follows an earlier morphological study of the Ganga by the institute’s Department of Civil Engineering sponsored by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
Under this project, IIT Roorkee will carry out the channel stabilisation (river training) works on 17 locations along river Ganga for development of navigation channel with eco-friendly techniques for capacity augmentation of navigation on NW-1. The work would help in preventing shifting of deeper channel, siltation resulting in formation of secondary channels, erosion of banks and other factors affecting the depth of flow in the main navigable channel, and thus will result in stabilising the main channel by containing the flow to get desirable flow and discharge patterns,which would ultimately reduce the need for dredging.The project work is to be completed in 25 months.
This work is a part of ongoing Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) of IAWI, which is sponsored by the World Bank. The JMVP envisages the creation and improvement of integration opportunities with other surface transport modes, such as roads and railways, so as to improve the overall efficiency of the logistics chain by linking the waterways through various well-equipped terminals and jetties. The IWAI vice chairman Jayant Singh, member (Technical) Ashutosh Gautam, chief engineer Ravikant along with IIT’s professors Z Ahmad, PK Garg, AA Kazmi, PK Sharma and others were present at the signing of the MoU.
IIT Roorkee director professor Ajit K Chaturvedi said, “This collaboration would ensure advancement of the waterways of the nation, and specially benefit the farmers and the people residing in the entire Ganga belt. It would boost the growth of small-scale industries, create employment opportunities, and facilitate transportation of cargo, thus improving logistics through small jetties leading to the overall development of the region.”
