PM Modi inaugurates Ro-Pax ferry service in Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a Ro-Pax ferry service between Hazira near Surat and Ghogha in Bhavnagar district. The ferry service will work as a gateway to south Gujarat and Saurashtra region. It will reduce the distance between the two places from 370 km to just 90 km.

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Ropax ferry services between Surat and Saurashtra in Gujarat, through video conferencing on Sunday. Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani also attended the event.

This ferry service will reduce the distance between Surat and Saurashtra from 317 km (by road) to just 60 kilometres, informed Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Shipping Minister on Saturday.

"A large number of people from Saurashtra have settled in Surat and are working in the diamond industry. There are about 5,000 buses plying daily between this route which takes around 10 to 12 hours," Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya informed who was also present at event.

"With this service, you will save on time and expenses. Apart from this, traffic will be reduced by road, which will help reduce pollution. In a year, about 80,000 vehicles and about 30,000 trucks will be able to take advantage of this new service. This will also save petrol and diesel," Modi said while inaugurating the service through videoconference.

Modi said the ferry connectivity of Saurashtra with a big business centre in Gujarat will change the life of that region. "Now the farmers and livestock farmers of Saurashtra will have more ease in bringing vegetables, fruits and milk to Surat," he pointed out.

The Prime Minister claimed that maritime business-related infrastructure and capacity building in Gujarat is in full swing. He cited the examples of Gujarat Maritime Cluster, Gujarat Maritime University, CNG Terminal at Bhavnagar and many such facilities coming up in Gujarat.

He stressed that the capacity of ports on the maritime borders of the country was also in the process of increasing. New ports are getting built at a rapid pace in an effort to maximise the use of India's 21,000-km long waterways.

The ferry service will work as a gateway to south Gujarat and Saurashtra region. It will reduce the distance between the two places from 370 km to just 90 km.

The cargo travel time will reduce from 10 to 12 hours to about 4 hours, leading to huge saving of around 9,000 litres per day in fuel and also lower maintenance costs of vehicles drastically.

The Prime Minister concluded his speech by stressing on 'vocal for local', urging people to buy local products in festival season. He said that this Diwali can be a 'turning point' for 'vocal for local' initiative.

"The country is going to celebrate 75 years of Independence. By then, the mantra of 'vocal for local' should become our, our family's mantra; it should be our strength. Therefore, this Diwali should become the turning point for 'vocal for local'," Modi said.

(PTI)