First cargo vessel to reach Patna

NEW DELHI: Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) vessel MV RN Tagore will be the first cargo vessel to reach Patna’s Gaighat Inland Water Transport (IWT) terminal on river Ganga next week.

The vessel, which set sail from Kolkata’s Garden Reach Jetty on Thursday carrying 16 units of cargo (equivalent to 16 truckloads) belonging to Pepsico India and Emami Agrotech Ltd will anchor at Patna after a 815-km long voyage on Ganga.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November had received the first vessel post-independence to move along India’s inland waterways that reached Varanasi from Kolkata.

“Kolkata-patna is India’s new Inland Waterways Terminal origin-destination pair for containerised cargo movement on the National Waterway-1. Plans are at an advanced stage to operationalise Patna-varanasi sector of NW-1 for container cargo movement. Container cargo transport comes with several advantages, even as it reduces the handling cost it allows easier modal shift, reduces pilferages and damage, it also enables cargo owners to reduce their carbon footprints,” the ministry of shipping said.

According to the World Bank analysis, of the 1.5 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities to be created due to interventions under the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP), 50,000 will be in Bihar alone.