Mithi to be part of Central plan

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday has said in the Assembly that the government was going to send a proposal of including Mithi river in the national inland waterway transport project initiated by the Centre. He also said the river would be cleaned soon.

“We are preparing a plan for transportation on the river, and we are going to send it to the Centre for its national inland water way transport initiative. We are also writing about cleaning the river,” Mr Fadnavis informed the House during question hour on cleaning of Mithi river.

The issue was figured in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and BJP MLA Ashish Shelar raised it in the Assembly. He asked if the government was going to request the central government to include the river in national inland water way transport project to which the chief minister replied in the positive.

Mr Shelar said that Rs 1,000 crore was being made available for waterways transport in 111 rivers in the country. He demanded that the Mithi river, which gained prominence during the July 26, 2005 deluge, should be included in the list.

It was also asked if the government was going to take any action for not cleaning the river so far. The issue of cleaning the river came forth after it was flooded on June 26, 2008 choking the entire city for two days. The BMC had taken up the cleaning, which has not yet completed.

The chief minister said that a report had been sought on the issue and action would be taken after the report was submitted.

The Centre’s National inland waterway transport project includes 111 rivers in the country. The idea is to encourage water transport through rivers.