New Delhi: A bill seeking to set up a new maritime university in Chennai was moved in parliament on Thursday. "The Indian Maritime University Bill, 2007, was presented in parliament. The bill seeks to establish and incorporate a teaching and affiliating university at Chennai with its campuses at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Vishakapatnam," Sitaram Yechury, MP and head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, told reporters.

The university will facilitate and promote maritime studies and research, and strive to achieve excellence in areas of marine science and technology, marine environment and other related fields.

Yechury said the 31 members of the standing committee had done a comprehensive study of the likely places where the university could be established. It felt that there was a need to establish more maritime universities to meet the need of students but this was not possible due to the lack of funds.

The committee has suggested that full-fledged universities should be established in the future at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Visakhapatnam. IANS