They have argued that vessels used for transporting cargo through inland waterways are also run on diesel. The committee, which met on Friday, recommended an increase in the outlay for inland waterways transport (IWT) since expenditure on this sector has been satisfactory during the last two years.

The ministry of surface transport had demanded Rs 129 crore for the next financial year for IWT. But the Budget has allocated only Rs 20 crore. The Planning Commission's sub-group on inland waterways had suggested creation of infrastructure for 20 billion tonne km which is 2 per cent of the total inland cargo. At present, it is only 1 billion tonne km or 0.1 per cent of the total inland cargo.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is expecting to manage a 0.3 per cent share this year.

Thetotal allocation for the Ninth Plan period has been pecked at Rs 1,700 crore out of which only Rs 308 crore has come so far. In fact, sizable investment in this sector has taken off from only the Ninth Plan period.Total investment in inland waterways from the First to the Eighth Plan was only Rs 680 crore compared to Rs 17,188 crore in road and Rs 63,655 crore in railways.

Navigable inland waters in the country stretch 14,500 km. But most of it suffer from inadequacies like shallow waters. At present, there are three national waterways--Allahabad-Haldia stretch of Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hoogly river system, Sadiya-Dhubri of the Brahmputra and Kottapuram-Kollam stretch of the West Coast Canal.

A proposal to declare the International Steamer Route in Sunderbans as national waterways is also pending with the government. It is extensively used by cargo vessels between Calcutta, Assam and Bangladesh.