In a historic first, MV Ram Prasad Bismil on Tuesday became the Longest Vessel ever to Sail on the Brahmaputra River in Assam.
The 90 meters long flotilla is 26 meters wide, loaded with a draft of 2.1 meters. With this, it successfully completed the aspiring pilot run of heavy cargo movement from Haldia Dock in Kolkata after it anchored at Pandu port in Guwahati today.
The vessel along with two barges – DB Kalpana Chawla and DB APJ Abdul Kalam – were flagged off from the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Haldia by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (PSW) and AYUSH, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal on 16 February 2022.
The significance of this pilot run lays down the path for commencement of barging operation from Kolkata to Guwahati via Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBRP).
The consignment – loaded with 1,793 MT of Steel rods from Tata Steel in Jamshedpur – had a requirement of a draft of 2.0 meters.
The engineering marvel of this historic consignment remains at maintaining the minimum navigational draft of at least 2.0 meters, especially at critical stretches like the Sirajganj – Daikowa stretch of IBPR.
Indo-Bangladesh Cooperation
The Government of India along with the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh funded the dredging of this stretch – with an 80:20 ratio respectively – for seamless navigation.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) as well as Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) worked together so that this historic cargo movement can move smoothly.
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal closely followed all developments and personally monitored the dredging work done by IWAI at various areas in this stretch so that the movement between NW1 & NW2 can start on a priority basis.
Thanking Bangladesh, he said, “we must also deeply thank the Bangladesh government without whose support this would not have been possible”.
“On behalf of the people, I would like to extend our deepest gratitude for partnering with us to revive one of the best modes of transportation and creating an opportunity for the mutual benefit and economic growth”, he added.
Transformation through Transportation
To revive and rejuvenate the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to bring ‘Transformation through Transportation,’ the government took the onus of dredging and making the conduit safe and smooth sail for vessels.
Speaking from Delhi, Union Minister Shri Sonowal said, “The vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modiji is to energize the Ashtalakshmi potential of Northeast to power the growth engine of India”.
Under his vision of ‘Transformation through Transportation,’ we worked tirelessly to rejuvenate the water transport in the region”, he added
“This is not only the cheapest and ecologically most adapted mode of transportation, it also allows the long-awaited connection for the business of Northeast through the marine network with the rest of the world”. he said further.
As the pilot run of this longest vessel plying on the Brahmaputra anchors a success at Pandu today, we must recognize that this was made possible by the team to chalk out a working route during this season of challenging depth at many stretches.
“We remain deeply committed to bringing business viability of water transport in Assam and reinvigorate the vitality of Brahmaputra as Northeast India’s economic fortune”, said Sonowal on the occasion.
Brahmaputra is the lifeline for Assam
Expressing gratitude on this watershed moment of the economic history of Assam, the Shri Sonowal, added, “For the people of Assam, the Brahmaputra is the lifeline”.
This was understood by the Prime Minister which is why he envisioned shaping the growth of this ecologically sensitive region via a medium that is widespread, economic, and environment friendly.
It must be noted that the minimum available depth for the last two fiscal years; i.e. FY2019-20 and FY2020-21, between Dhubri and Pandu stretch was 2.2 meters at the Brahmaputra.
As per a recent LAD report, this depth depleted further and was drastically reduced to 1.5 meters in January 2022. From Chilmari to Daikhawa, the required depth of 2.2 meters was confirmed by BITWA.
It is to be noted that earlier MV Lal Bahadur Shastri carried a consignment of 200 MT foodgrains for Food Corporation of India (FCI) from Patna to Pandu, successfully completing the Pilot Movement cargo between Ganga, the National Waterway 1 (NW1), and Brahmaputra, the National Waterway 2 (NW2).
In addition to this, an Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC) for Numaligarh Refinery was also transported via IBPR further onto NW2 earlier.