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House panel: set up five maritime varsities

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee has recommended the setting up of five Maritime Universities — one each in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and Kochi — with clearly demarcated geographical jurisdiction.

The Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, headed by senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, says the Indian Maritime University Bill, 2007 is “not sufficient in achieving the desired objective.” The report was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Yechury said the committee recommended that the government consider bringing in fresh, comprehensive legislation for the creation of the universities. A political controversy had broken out over the location of the single Maritime University. “The most important point is to have multiple maritime universities to cater to the expanding sector as maritime trade is growing at a rate of 20 per cent every year.”

“Piquant” situation

Mr. Yechury said it was a “piquant” situation. A country like India with a large coastline did not boast a number of maritime universities to churn out trained, skilled engineers and officers when the sector was facing an acute shortage of manpower.

The committee felt that one university was not enough to serve the purpose of maritime studies and research. The panel remained unconvinced with the reasons for having a single university when countries such as Japan, Vietnam, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and China had more than one.

It felt that the maritime university should cover the entire gamut of maritime activities and endeavour to deal with an exhaustive range of subjects other than shipping.

It recommended that the term “maritime studies” be elaborated in the bill to explain the scope of courses to be offered — maritime security, law, history, ocean engineering, exploitation of resources, ship and port management, maritime transport and logistics, maritime insurance, off shore exploration, naval architecture and ship building.

AERA Bill

In another report on Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) Bill, 2007, the committee recommended that its ambit be broadened to include regulation of aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues.

It recommended that fuel supply infrastructure be brought under the purview of the bill and included in the powers and functions of the authority.

With the private sector playing a key role in management of Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad airports, Mr. Yechury said it was all the more crucial that the AERA Bill take care of all aspects of airport management and regulation.

The committee felt that the role of the AERA and its functions should be expanded to cover all the airports used for the operation of commercial flights, irrespective of the size of the airport or its ownership.

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