The successful completion of the river cruise from Varanasi to Dibrugarh reflects that waterway is primed for river cruise services. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), an autonomous organisation under Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, has undertaken Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) from Varanasi to Haldia to enable large scale movement of goods.

 Brahmaputra River (NW-2) provides alternate waterway connectivity to the North-Eastern Region (NER) through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route and Ganga River with the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand& West Bengal. Movement of goods through Brahmaputra River (NW-2)-IBP route and Ganga River (NW-1) is helpful in unlocking the economic potential of the North-Eastern Region.

During the recent past, cargo services have been successfully completed from Ganga River (NW-1) to Brahmaputra River (NW-2) as detailed at Annexure. The NW-1 and NW-2 are already operational waterways and cargo/passenger/tourism vessels are moving on them. On-going projects on NW-1 & NW-2, aims at capacity augmentation of these National Waterways.

Annexure

Scheduled Cargo Services on NW-1 and NW-2

• • Cargo Services from Haldia to Patna and Dhubri (Assam) to Bangladesh Started in Feb 22. Several Oil and Petro-Chemical Companies have pledged long term cargo movement for the first time from Assam to Bangladesh and Haldia.
  • A pilot movement of 200 ton food grains of Food Corporation of India (FCI) was undertaken from Patna (Bihar) to Pandu (Guwahati), Assam via Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route covering a distance of 2,350 km.
  • Another pilot movement of 1798.27 ton Prime Thermo-Mechanically Treated Bars of M/s. Tata Steel Limited was also performed successfully on a 90 mtr long and 24 mtr vide vessel from Haldia Dock complex to Pandu (Guwahati) Through NW-1, IBP route and NW-2.
  • An IWAI vessel transported stone from Bhutan to be delivered in Bangladesh by moving on NW 2 (Brahmaputra) and the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route in July 2019. This is the first time an Indian waterway was used as a channel for transport of cargo between two countries, using India for transit. 15 movements of Bhutan cargo to Bangladesh via IBP route took place during FY 2021.
  • Regularized movement of stone aggregates from Bhutan through Dhubri (Assam) IWT terminal. 319 vessels loaded with stone aggregates / Coal of total weight 51,210 MT sailed from Dhubri (India) to Chilmari(Bangladesh) during FY 2021-22.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

MJPS