Shipping Ministry issues draft 'Aids to Navigation Bill 2020' for public consultation

New Delhi [India], July 10 (ANI): The Union Shipping Ministry on Friday issued the draft of 'Aids to Navigation Bill 2020' for public consultation to help India incorporate global best practices and technological developments in the field of aids to marine navigation.
"In accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for augmenting people's participation and transparency in the governance, the Ministry of Shipping has issued the draft of Aids to Navigation Bill, 2020 for suggestions from the stakeholders and general public," the ministry said in a press release.
The draft bill is proposed to replace the almost nine decades old Lighthouse Act, 1927, to incorporate the global best practices and with the purpose to serve India's international obligations.
Union Minister of State of Shipping (Independent Charge) Mansukh Mandaviya said that the initiative is part of the proactive approach adopted by the Ministry of Shipping by repealing archaic colonial laws and replacing it with modern and contemporary needs of the maritime industry.
Mandaviya also said that suggestions from the public and stakeholders will strengthen the provisions of the legislation.
He added that the bill aims to regulate state-of-the-art technologies of marine navigation which was earlier used to tangle in statutory provisions of the Lighthouse Act, 1927.
"The draft bill provides for empowering Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) with additional power and functions such as vessel traffic service, wreck flagging, training and certification, implementation of other obligations under international conventions, where India is a signatory. It also provides for identification and development of heritage lighthouses," the release said.
The draft bill comprises a new schedule of offences, along with commensurate penalties for obstructing and damaging the aids to navigation, and non-compliance with directives issued by the central government and other bodies under the draft bill, it further said. (ANI)