GUWAHATI: A consignment of 1235 metric tonnes of fly ash arrived at Pandu port here from Bihar marking the longest haulage in inland water transport movement in the country.
This is for the first time that such an effort has been taken to make use of Inland Waterways of India (IWAI) for the benefit of Assam and Northeast by Star Cement in collaboration with IWAI and NTPC.
The fly ash from NTPC power plant in Bihar was transported through circuitous routes of rivers and sea passing through Bangladesh before reaching Pandu port.
Speaking on the occasion, Shashi Bhusan Shukla, member (traffic) at Inland Waterways Authority of India said, “River Brahmaputra is the lifeline of Northeast region and it possesses immense potential as far the water transport and water cargo movement is concerned.”
Ashutosh Agnihotri, state transport commissioner and secretary, transport, said, “This is indeed a proud moment in the history of Inland Waterways Authority of India in Assam as the first heavy consignment has been successfully transported.”
Commenting on the initiative, Sanjay K. Gupta, CEO, Star Cement said that from the ancient times until roads were constructed, the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers were commonly used as the
medium of transport. “In the British era, river Brahmaputra was utilised for cargo movement from North East to Calcutta port.
