Guwahati, March 11: The North Eastern Council (NEC) is exploring new inland water ways to bring down the existing communication gap between the North East and the 'mainland' India through the chicken neck, reports NNN.

The last day of the 3rd North Eastern Council (NEC) Sectoral summit today in Guawahati stressed on development of Inland Water Transportways through Brahmaputra river and felt that the unique water ways system of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries can offer an alternate way of communication with 'mainland' India.

"Once developed, the river route could be and alternate way tobring in cargo carriers to the Northeast region," said DoNER Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer and added that the meeting also stressed on certain steps to improve the system.

"Better navigation aids like construction of towers along the banks and improvement of a geo-satellite system enlisted high priority to improve the water ways system," said Aiyer while adding implementation of this would also ensure night travel which would cut short the required time.

"We are also planning to develop the existing 78 terminals for cargo along the river.

At some places floating terminals could also be used," said the Minister while adding that sophisticated machinery like water suction dredger and hydraulic surface dredger were purchased to ensure proper dredging of the river.

"Interlinking of Brahmaputra and its tributaries with the major rivers of Arunachal Pradesh is equally important," said Aiyer while adding that better utilization of Kolodyne river in Mizoram would open up the southern northeastern states with Myanmar.

Apart from inland water transport ways, the 3rd sectoral meeting also discussed on flood control and irrigation system of the northeastern region, said Aiyer while adding that infrastructural lapses would be taken care of to improve the system.

"I have also visited the Dr B.Borooah Cancer Institute at Guwahati and felt that effort should be undertaken to extend the institute so that it reaches out to the other parts of the region as well.

The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) and the Northeastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi) and I feel both the institutes have been doing excellent works in their respective fields," said the Minister.

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