Maruti in talks with waterways body for Varanasi-Haldia route.

The Centre's focus on developing an all-weather inland waterway transport option along the 1,600-km stretch of Ganga from Varanasi to Haldia has attracted the attention of corporates. Maruti Suzuki India recently approached the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the nodal agency for Jal Marg Vikas project, to explore the opportunity to access eastern markets through this route. "Maruti has approached us to discuss the possibilities," Pravir Pandey, Member Finance of IWAI, and Head of the World Bank-assisted project for development of the waterway, told newspersons. Pandey was in the city in connection with a coordination meeting for the Jalmarg project. IWAI helped NTPC to award a pioneering contract for trans-shipment of imported coal to Farakka thermal power plant and is currently working on another NTPC tender to take fuel further up to Barh near Patna. The tender has already been floated twice without much success. Efforts are on to convince more power plants to use the waterway for carrying coal. Discussions are on with the Sagardighi power plant of West Bengal government in this regard.