My anxiety for my own province actuates me to suggest this amendment. The present province of Orissa is in a very wretched condition. Once it was very prosperous and the present poor condition of Orissa is due to want of a major port and that is why I want that there should be an insertion of such a clause so that we, the coastal provinces, may have at least one major port. Mr. Sidhwa on the other hand wants that it should not be a subject under the Federal List; but I must oppose that and say that unless it is under the Centre, it is not possible for the Province to develop a new port. My friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad has partly supported me by his amendment and I therefore hope that my amendment also will be passed. The once prosperous province of Orissa has been reduced to such penury that it is a shame for the whole Union; it will remain a shame for the whole Union unless and until it is developed and brought into line with other provinces. When you are going to start, so to say, a new altogether, all the provinces must be started on an even keel and that is why I am so particular that we must have a major port, so that trade and industry may flourish. We must have a channel through which we may be able to be prosperous. Once the policy of starting canals in Orissa was started: but it was a failure and that caused great inconvenience and cost to the people of Orissa. Again, the Railways were started and the Railways have also become so to say a failure in Orissa to a great extent because there are not many openings and we get floods almost once in three years and we suffer terribly. The real prosperity of the coastal province lies in its ports and in former times Orissa was very prosperous only on account of her ports. In almost every district we had one or two ports; in Balasore we had the port of Pipli and Chandbali, and in Puri in olden times we had the famous port of Chelitola. All these ports are practically non-existent today and I therefore wish that our new Union will give us such help that we may be able to start at least one major port for the province of Orissa. To start with, the Andhra province-it is expected it will be a new province-will have Vizagapatam; but though our province has been created in 1936 and it is a coastal province, we have no major port. I therefore wish that this should be included in item 36. As regards the Language, I feel some difficulty in wording it properly but I hope that may be changed properly by those who are incharge of the drafting.
