Guwahati, Mar 15: The Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Government of India, achieved a landmark when the MV Ram Prasad Bismil became the longest vessel ever to sail on River Brahmaputra. The 90-meter-long flotilla is 26-meter-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 here in Guwahati on Tuesday.
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, Sarbananda Sonowal on February 16, 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 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 Sirajganj – Daikowa stretch of IBPR.
The Government of India along with Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh funded the dredging of this stretch with 80:20 ratio, respectively, for seamless movement of vessels.
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. To revive & rejuvenate the vision of PM Narendra Modi to bring ‘Transformation through Transportation,’ the government took the onus of dredging and make the conduit a safe & smooth sail for vessels.
The Union Minister, 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 priority basis.
