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.
