Steps for better waterways navigation on N-E rivers soon

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) Chairperson Nutan Guha Biswas has said concerted steps will be taken soon to enable smooth navigation on rivers in the North-East and the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route.

The assurance by the Chairperson came after various stakeholders, including government officials from Assam and Meghalaya -- who attended the recent IWAI road show, demanded night navigation facilities and more roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) facilities on National Waterways-2 (Dhubri-Sadiya stretch of Brahmaputra) and the IBP route.

The Brahmaputra river connects the North-East with Kolkata through the IBP route. The route offers a seamless connectivity between National Waterways-1 (Allahabad-Haldia) and ports in Bangladesh via National Waterways-2 (Pandu, Assam).

The officials have also demanded an Inland Waterways Terminal between Dibrugarh and Bogibil in Assam for more loading-unloading facilities and warehousing facilities on Inland water Transport (IWT) routes in the North-East.

The road show was organised by the IWAI, in association with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) here, to brainstorm on the major issues linked with developing the rivers of the North-East as viable and sustainable means for cargo and passenger transportation.

--IANS

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