Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and AYUSH, received the maiden trip of food grains from Patna to Pandu via Bangladesh at Guwahati on Sunday. The self-propelled vessel MV Lal Bahadur Shastri conducted the maiden pilot run from Patna to Pandu via Bangladesh, carrying a total of 200 MT of foodgrains for the Food Corporation of India (FCI). IWAI intends to operate a fixed-schedule sailing between NW1 and NW2, ushering in a new era of inland water transportation for Assam and Northeast India.
The ship set sail from Patna on the NW-1 (Ganga) route, passing through Bhagalpur, Manihari, Sahibganj, Farakka, Tribeni, Kolkata, Haldia, and Hemnagar; the Indo Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route, passing through Khulna, Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Chilmari; and the NW-2 route, passing through Dhubri and Jogighopa. Another ship, the MV With two barges, Ram Prasad Bismil On the 17th of February, Kalpana Chawla and APJ Abdul Kalam embarked on a cruise from Haldia to Pandu. The vessel, which is carrying 1800MT of Tata steel, has already arrived in Dhubri, Bangladesh. On the 15th of February, the Numaligarh Bio-ODC refinery’s (over Dimensional cargo, 252 MT) arrived in Silghat via IWT via IBP route from Haldia. Another ODC shipment (250MT) is on its way to Silghat. Two portions of IBP roads, Sirajganj-Daikhowa and Ashuganj-Zakiganj, are also being developed at a cost of Rs. 305.84 crore on an 80:20 sharing basis to increase navigability (80 percent being borne by India and 20 percent by Bangladesh).
