Patna,(BiharTimes): The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has ruled out any plan to construct new barrages on the 1,620km long stretch between Allahabad and Haldia of the National Waterway (NW)-1 on the Ganga.

A spokesman of Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) said in a statement on Tuesday that “there are various effective alternatives available for river training that IWAI intends to employ as first priority to achieve desirable depth and as of now there are no plans to construct any new barrage for achieving this goal.”
According to him a Project Oversight Committee, which includes representatives of the UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West

Bengal governments, has been constituted for providing guidance to the project implementation and evaluation. The IWAI wrote to the secretary of water resource department, government of Bihar, on December 10, 2014, clarifying there are no plans for five-meter draft in the navigable reach of NW-1 as mentioned in a letter sent earlier by the state department.The IWAI letter to the Bihar official also said the process of selection of a consultant for detailed feasibility study, detailed engineering for its ancillary works and processes and consultant for environmental and social impact assessment and environmental management plan was at present underway.

The JMVP statement came only a few days after chief minister Nitish Kumar, while attending a conference on river Ganga, strongly opposed the Union government’s reported plan to build 16 barrages between Allahabad and Haldia.When Jitan Ram Manjhi was the chief minister he too opposed
the Centre’s move in this regard.The common fear of Bihar is that the move will have a detrimental impact on river Ganga in Bihar, where flood is a perennial problem.