Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and AYUSH, flagged off the MV Lal Bahadur Shastri, an inland waterway vessel, from Patna to Guwahati, today.
The ship is transporting 200 metric tonnes of food grains to Guwahati’s Pandu port. By early March 2022, it will have traveled across Bangladesh and arrived at its destination. On National Waterway – 1 in Saran, Bihar, the minister also laid the foundation stone for the Kalughat intermodal terminal (river Ganga).
The ship sets sail on National Waterway-1 (river Ganga) through Bhagalpur, Manihari, Sahibganj, Farakka, Tribeni, Kolkata, Haldia, and Hemnagar; the Indo Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route through Khulna, Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Chilmari; and National Waterway-2 through Dhubri and Jogighopa, covering a distance of 2,350 kilometres.
The yacht is slated to arrive in Pandu, Guwahati, in early March, after covering the entire journey in around 25 days. This momentous achievement will usher in a new era of development for all of Northeast India’s states.
“This is a historic moment for all of Northeast as we commence on reaping the benefits of the most smooth cargo movement across Brahmaputra,” Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in a statement. This isn’t just a trek from Patna to Pandu; it’s a journey of unmet dreams and aspirations to connect to the rest of the world through waterways.
The government has invested over Rs. 4600 crore in the ambitious Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) to increase the capacity of NW-1 (river Ganga) for safe and sustainable circulation of vessels up to 2000 tonnes.
Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution; Ashwani Kumar Choubey, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Environment, Forest & Climate Change; and Shantanu Thakur, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, were also present at this historic event.
