GUWAHATI, 8 Jan: Work has begun for national waterways along the Brahmaputra and the Barak rivers and cargo and passenger ships from Assam and the Northeast will be connected to Haldia in West Bengal via Bangladesh, union minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Saturday.
Speaking at the ‘Brahmaputra river conclave’ at the ongoing Northeast Festival here, he said transformation through transportation is the idea behind the revamping of national waterways as means of communication.
“Work has already begun to pave way for national waterways (Brahmaputra and Barak) to facilitate movement of cargo ships. Cargo and passenger ships from Assam and the Northeast
will be connected to Haldia via Bangladesh. The work of dredging has already begun,” the union ports, shipping & waterways minister said.
He added that coastal and maritime shipping will get a boost with opening up of the northeastern markets.
Sonowal also said that “we must not limit ourselves to the Brahmaputra. We must go beyond and develop waterways through other rivers like Aie, Dhansiri, Manas, etc.”
“All the eight states must come together and work towards the region’s development,” he said. (PTI)
