Ganga Brahmaputra linked via Bangladesh to promote water trade in north east

Under PM Gati Shakti program, the historical water trade routes via Bangladesh got rejuvenated by linking Ganga and Brahmaputra waterways to facilitate trade in north east;

On last Sunday, March 6, Sarbananda Sonowal, union minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, received vessel MV Lal Bahadur Shastri carrying 200 MT of food grains from Patna to Pandu in Guwahati via Bangladesh; the maiden trip that was spread over both Ganga and Bangladesh.

“Today marks the beginning of a new age of inland water transport in Assam. This is going to provide the business community a viable, economic & ecological alternative”, said Sonowal during the occasion.

The Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma observed, “the start of cargo movement … through Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBRP) marks the beginning of a new age of economic prosperity for the whole region of Northeast”. Sanjay Bandyopadhyay, Chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was also present during the occasion.

The journey was initiated from Patna on National Waterway-1 (river Ganga) and passed through Bhagalpur, Manihari, Sahibganj, Farakka, Tribeni, Kolkata, Haldia, Hemnagar; Indo Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route through Khulna, Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Chilmari and National Waterway-2 through Dhubri, and Jogighopa covering overall 2,350 km.

IBP route connects Indian rivers Ganga (NW-1), Brahmaputra (NW-2) and Barak (NW-16) with Bangladesh’s rivers Jamuna, Padma, Gumti, Meghna and Kushiara are part of an integrated connectivity.

“We welcome the development” said Bipul Chattopadhyay, executive director of Jaipur based Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS); that has been long advocating the need to enhance water trade.

The existing protocol routes are (i) Kolkata-Pandu-Kolkata, ( Protocol Route 1 & 2) (ii) Kolkata- Karimganj – Kolkata (Protocol Route 3 & 4), (iii) Rajshahi-Dhulian-Rajshahi (Protocol Route 5 & 6) , (iv) Pandu-Karimganj-Pandu (Protocol Route 7 & 8) and (v) Sonamura – Daudkandi (Protocol Route 9& 10); the recently added one.

The India-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) on Inland Water Transit and Trade was first signed in 1972 to restore trade and transit through rivers; and in April 2015, two countries decided to renew the Protocol automatically after every five years. .

IWAI is planning to run a fixed schedule sailing between NW1 and NW2 heralding a new age of inland water transport for Assam & the Northeast India.