Inland waterways: Delhi, Dhaka to ink long-term pact for moving foodgrains to the North-East

After coal, foodgrains may soon be transported through inland river waterways via Bangladesh to the north-eastern States on a regular basis. For this, India intends to ink a long-term treaty with Dhaka.

“The effort is to sign a long-term treaty during the visit of Bangladesh Shipping Secretary, starting April 20. This will enable a five-year or so blanket permission for movement of cargo to the north-eastern States via Bangladesh through waterways,” a senior government official told BusinessLine .

During the last 43 years, this is the first time that a long-term treaty will be signed. So far, it has been extended 27 times for only one or two years.

The movement of cargo through inland waterways to the North-East will possibly be through Bangladesh, with Karimganj and Ashuganj as transit points. Due to the river depth, movement through Karimganj is possible only during May-October, while through Ashuganj, it is possible throughout the year.

Recently, India used the Bangladesh route to transport 10,000 tonnes of foodgrains to the North-East on pilot basis.

“Normally, we take one-off approval for the movement. But to make this medium viable, we need a long-term arrangement. This will also encourage barge companies to invest in such cargo movement,” the official said.

India plans to transport around 30,000 tonnes of foodgrains for the public distribution system every month to the North-East using waterways. Officials say the transportation cost on waterways is almost 20 per cent lower than road and rail. Besides, it has much lower carbon emission. It also helps in checking pilferage of foodgrains, which is rampant on rail or road.Though inland waterways have been used for transporting various machineries, it has only been on a trial basis. It was coal that saw organised development of this means of transportation.

In 2013, power producer NTPC started using inland waterways to transport imported coal to its Farakka power station from Haldia in West Bengal. The plan now is to use the same mechanism for power projects at Barh (Bihar), Kathua (West Bengal) and Bongaigaon (Assam).

Movement through waterways is high on the Centre’s agenda as the Cabinet recently approved enactment of a legislation declaring 101 additional inland waterways as National Waterways (NW) for navigation.

This will create a logistics supply chain with inter-modal (rail, road and waterways) connectivity. It will also contribute to the GDP by opening up business opportunities in the areas of dredging, barge construction, operation and repair, terminal construction/operation, providing storage facilities, providing modern aids for day and night navigation, tourist cruise, consultancy, training of manpower for manning barges, and hydrographic survey, among others.

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