PANAJI
The 'national waterway' between Dona Paula and port town of Vasco is expected to have a ferry service soon which will cut down travel time between the two cities, Union Minister of State Shripad Naik said on Sunday.
Taking to Twitter, Naik who is junior minister in the Shipping and Waterways ministry besides ports and tourism, said in a series of tweets in Hindi that the 32-kilometer distance between Panaji and Vasco which approximately takes 45 minutes will then be possible in 20 minutes.
Naik's tweet drew the attention of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and quote-tweeted the tweet-thread to express happiness over the national waterways-68 between Panaji to Vasco providing relief to people.
Modi in his tweet said the waterway will also help promote tourism.
Naik had earlier said in his tweet that the journey of 32 kilometers between Panaji and Vasco takes approximately 45 minutes but will be possible to achieve in just 20 minutes. The distance too has been reduced by about nine kilomenters, he had added.
"This has been possible because of NW-68. It is natural that both time and money will be saved,” a loose translation of Naik's tweet read.
Meanwhile, the twitter engagement of the Prime Minister and Naik sounded like fiction as there is no operational waterway between Dona Paula and Vasco as yet. The latter however clarified that a ferry service will be launched very soon after a floating jetty which is already sanctioned by the ministry is set up.
"The tweets are in the context of a floating jetty to be set up soon which is already sanctioned by the Shipping and Waterways ministry," Naik said when questioned about his tweet.
He also said that a ferry service will also be made operational which will enable people to not only commute but also take their vehicles across.
The minister said, the floating jetty on the Dona Paula side will be executed by the Shipping and Waterways ministry while on the Vasco side the jetty arrangements will be made by the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA).
The waterway between Dona Paula and Vasco was operational several decades ago in the 1980s with a launch service availed by office-goers and regular commuters between the two cities. The service was abruptly stopped in the late 1980s.
During the tenure of the Digambar Kamat government between 2007-12, there was a study commissioned to explore a sealink, but the proposal got buried without a trace.
