Guwahati: Only 38 state inland water transport ferries ply on the over 600 kms long Brahmaputra river in Assam, with the expenditure of the department also exceeding in couple of crores of the income.
Revealing these in a reply in the Assembly today, state Transport Minister Chandan Brahma said the inland water transport department operates 38 ferries of its own on various routes, including four in Guwahati.
Private ferries and boats ply on various routes over the river.
The department incurred an expenditure of over Rs 3.46 crore since 2008-09 up to February 2013, the minister further informed.
Against this, the department’s earnings during the same period were a little more than Rs 1.32 crore, he added.
The Brahmaputra, with a total length of 2900 km from its origin in Himalayas to the mouth at Bay of Bengal, rolls for about 640 kms through Assam.
It is a major communication means for passenger traffic as well as freight, though the full potential is yet to be exploited. (UNI)