Patna: Port of Union, Minister of Delivery and Sarbanou Sonowal waterways on Saturday said the center had hit a plan to develop a network of inland waterways from the river system along with their respective intermodal cargo terminals in the country with the help of the World Bank (WB).
The minister said inland water transportation was a cheaper cargo transportation mode compared to road routes and trains.
Sylowal, which laid the foundation stone with a remote for the construction of a trusted cargo terminal in the first State of Inland in the NW-1 Ganga in the state in Kalughat near Sonepur in the District Suggestion, said that as many as 123 national mainland waterways (NWS) had been planned under the JAL project Marg Vikas, an ambitious plan of PM Narendra Modi.
“Working at 23 of them is in various stages, and the inter-mode cargo terminal is being built on both sides of the national water channel.
This project is being carried out with the help of WB RS 4,600 Crore,” he added.
While the Saturday function was held at the National Inland Navigation Institute (Nini) Campus Authority in India (IWAI) in Gaighat on the south bank Ganga here, Kalughat is located on the northern edge of the river, about 25 km from 25 km Patna and will provide a road link to Nepal and North Bihar cities and North West Bengal.
Minister of Consumer Affairs Union Piyush Goyal and Minister of State Bangladesh for shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, participated in functions through virtual media.
Also present on the occasion was Deputy Bihar CMS Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, Minister of Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of Health Mangal Pandey, MPS Ravi Shankar Prasad (from Patna Saheb) and Rajiv Pratap Rudy (from suggestions), and former Minister of Nand Kishore Yadav and Sonepur Mla Ramanj Prasad, among others.
Sonowal blew the whistle, and marked the MV Lal Bahadur Shastri carrying 200 tons of foodgrain from Gaighat (Patna) at NW-1 Ganga to the terminal in Pandu (Guwahati, Assam) located in NW-2 Brahmaputra.
It was the movement of the Pilot MV Lal Bahadur Shastri, and would pass Bhagalpur, Sahebanj (Jharkhand), Farakka and Kolkata in West Bengal, and Bangladesh before ending in Pandu, covering a distance of 1,400 km.
“When NW-1 Ganga and NW-2 Brahmaputra became fully operational, it will benefit countries such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam and Bangladesh,” Sonowal said.
He added that the NW-1 Ganga and NW-2 brahmaputra link has become possible because of increased coordination between India and Bangladesh.
Sonowal also thanked Chowdhury for decorating functions through virtual media.
Finally, sitting in his chair, replying to the cue with salute.
While Rudy, in his speech, demanded advanced connectivity between Kalughat and Nepal to increase trade between the two countries, Sonowal said it would be facilitated with funds provided under the Gatihakti Yojana PM which was intended for infrastructure development.