The Hindu Business Line : NW1: A connector awaiting development

Notwithstanding the fall in crude prices from the record $147 plus in July, which had thrown stock exchanges around the world into a spin and sent shock waves across economies, transportation of coal, or for that matter any bulk item, is now a headache everywhere.

Recently, the Planning Commission initiated a comprehensive study on the feasibility of moving coal through all modes, including inland waterways. It is in this context that the DVC canal, which joins the Ruhr of Eastern India to the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system, the National Waterway 1 (NW1), assumes importance.

Strategic Connector

The DVC Navigation-cum-Irrigation Canal, known as the DVC Canal, was opened in 1955 but never used for navigation. It emerges from the Durgapur Barrage on the Damodar and runs past Burdwan along its 136-km journey, which ends at Kunti Ghat, nearly 56 km north of Calcutta, a tidal creek on the Hooghly. Thus, it joins the steel-coal-engineering belt of West Bengal to NW1. Its strength lies in this, because it connects two complimentary economic zones — the highly industrialised region to the fertile Gangetic plain. Cities like Allahabad and Patna and also the Calcutta Metropolitan Area get joined by a single inland waterway system, making economic movement of bulk items possible between Durgapur and Haldia and even to faraway places on the NW1.

Trial successful

To study its navigability, the State Planning Board initiated a trial run of 125 tonnes of coal in August 1974 by four country boats from Durgapur to Tribeni Tissues Limited, at the confluence of the Kunti and the Hooghly, which resulted in a saving of 500 litres of diesel.

Two of the loaded boats left Durgapur on the morning of August 7, 1974, and the other two left on August 8. All of them reached the Tribeni Tissues’ jetty on August 10 evening.

The canal can be made navigable even now. And, there is no dearth of bulk traffic comprising iron and steel, coal, cement, machinery for the downstream journey, or for that matter consumer goods, petro-chem products and imported cargo for the upstream journey, thanks to the current industrial resurgence in West Bengal.

Admittedly, there are a number of impediments, like negotiating the 22 lock-gates and a number of bridges uniformly at a height of 17 ft above the ground, maintaining a minimum draft of nearly 6 ft throughout the year and that of night navigation.

The efforts and the investments would be amply rewarded once the canal is made fully navigable because of its prosperous hinterland.

Modern mechanised tugs and barges move fast, saving time, and the navigable canal would also be capable of taking the burden off the congested Grand Trunk Road and the Railways.

Since NW1 is now navigable between Patna and Haldia throughout the year, the combined waterway — the DVC canal along with NW1 — offers huge economies of scale to the movement of bulk cargo in the region. For instance, imported coal for steel and the power plants can move upstream for Haldia to Durgapur directly.

Revival route

This inland waterway system, once made navigable, can also offer a new lease of life to the old towns on the banks of the Bhagirathi, such as Azimganj in the fertile agricultural zone. The bulk cargo can move to Kunti Ghat and then to Azimganj, which is an old township on the west bank of NW 1 with longstanding trade and financial channels.

Further, it is the only town on the NW1 connected with the steel-coal belt by a broad-gauge rail track. It can become an important halt for the vessels plying between Patna and Haldia if modern cargo-handling facilities are provided.

The cargo of iron and steel, cement, fertiliser and others in the upstream journey can be unloaded at Azimganj and distributed through trade channels to locations in the districts of Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Malda.

This will enable Azimganj to grow first as a modern transport node and later as an industrial hub in central Bengal, helping spread of industries in the State. Agricultural and agro-industrial products can be the cargo for the downstream journey.

Apart from fuel economy, the long-term benefit of reviving these inland waterways lies in spreading the fruits economic growth directly to the people — in bringing about a more balanced economic development all over the region extending to north Bihar and eastern UP. The whole thing, however, crucially hinges on maintaining the navigability of the system round the year, round the clock.

(The author is formerly Senior Economist, Assocham, New Delhi, and M.N. Dastur & Company Ltd, Kokata)