New Delhi: To bring radical changes in the 118 -year -old man Indian port lawThe Government has proposed that all ports, older and lower, will have to inform any incident that threatens the contamination of coastal waters and the damage to their properties and provides data on trade and commerce.
The Indian Ports bill, 2025, which has been approved by the cabinet and is likely to be introduced into the second half of the Parliament Budget session, proposes to make 23 violations such as criminal crimes, including those related to safety and pollution (marine) in ports, oil spills and waste removal. The bill proposes to have sanctions that vary between RS 10,000 and RS 2 Lakh, and the imprisonment in some cases.
The sources said that criminal crimes would also include the lack of payment of rates and port charges, the obstruction of port operations, property damage, violation of security regulations and unauthorized access to port areas.
The bill also proposes to designate large ports such as “main ports”, which can be important ports owned by the central government or minors by private actors and state governments.
According to the provisions of the approved bill, the ports must “immediately” inform any incident to the central government that threatens or probably represents a threat of contamination in coastal waters. They must also inform the details of incidents such as property damage, sunken ships, collision of boats and fire in a way prescribed by the central government.
The bill proposes to legalize the Development Council of Maritime States and demand that states establish dispute resolution committees.
The authorities said that the provision of the center’s energy to direct a port to adopt a mechanism to electronically integrate the data related to the port with the Port Community System Or any other centralized system will be crucial in the long term and better planning.
According to the bill, a new port will be allowed to begin the operation only after a due notification by the Government.
