By Sujit Chakraborty, IANS,
Agartala : India will soon conduct a survey for new waterways with Bangladesh, a move that would facilitate the movement of goods between the two countries.
State-owned RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Services) will conduct the survey for the new waterways between India’s Tripura state and Bangladesh, a top official said.
The waterways would be rivers that would have navigation facilities for smooth movement of vessels.
“RITES had earlier this year conducted a preliminary feasibility study to make new waterways between Tripura’s Gomti and Howrah rivers and Bangladesh’s Meghna and Titas rivers,” Tripura transport department secretary Kishore Ambuly told IANS.
He said: “Now RITES would conduct an in-depth study for the purpose and submit a detailed project report (DPR) to the Tripura government.”
RITES is a mini-Ratna company under the railway ministry.
India and Bangladesh share 2,979 km of land border and 1,116 km of riverine boundary. The two neighbours share 54 rivers, including eight rivers flowing from Tripura.
The official said that after getting the project report from RITES, a detailed proposal would be submitted to the union ministry of shipping and other ministries concerned to formally initiate the process to open new waterways between the two neighbours.
The official added that the North Eastern Council, a regional planning body, may provide funds for preparing the DPR under the centrally sponsored scheme for development of waterways in northeast India.
Currently, Indian and Bangladeshi waterways connect West Bengal and Assam states and the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) are operating vessels on these routes.
The Tripura government had submitted a proposal to the central government for declaring Gomti river as a national waterway keeping in view the potential of linkage with the inland waterways of Bangladesh.
“As advised by the union ministry of shipping and transport, an inland waterways transport wing has been set up in the transport department of the Tripura government,” said Ambuly.
Tripura and other northeastern states are surrounded by Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and China on three sides and the only land route access to these states from within India is through Assam and West Bengal. The lengthy route through Assam passes through hilly terrain with steep roads and multiple hairpin bends.
India has for long pressed for using Bangladeshi waterways and ports, especially for easy transport of Indian goods from Kolkata and other mainland cities to northeastern states through that country.
Oversized heavy turbines and other heavy machines for ONGC’s (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) 726 MW capacity Palatana power project in southern Tripura, carried on massive 132-wheeled trucks, had recently reached the site from Haldia port in West Bengal after being trans-shipped through Bangladesh waterways, using Ashuganj port.
(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at [email protected])