Tripura will be connected with Kolkata, Visakhapatnam and Paradip via the Bay of Bengal once inland waterways connectivity with Bangladesh commences in a full-fledged manner, Union Shipping, Ports and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in Agartala on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at the BJP headquarters, the Union minister said, “Inland waterways connectivity in Tripura has gone a long way. We are developing jetties on the Gomati river. Through the Gomati, we will connect with the Bay of Bengal. We won’t be restricted to Bangladesh… we will connect Tripura with Kolkata, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, etc. We want to provide global connectivity.”
Sonowal said that Tripura is a fertile state with the ability to produce a variety of goods that have potential in the global market and that the waterways connectivity would help leverage its connectivity potential, putting it in front of a huge market globally.
He also said that Tripura had made significant progress in development over the last decade, adding that the state was now third in internet connectivity in the country and had carved a niche in the global market with its agricultural and horticultural products like jackfruit and pineapple.
In February last year, a new inland waterway terminal building and a permanent jetty were established at Srimantapur in Tripura’s Sepahijala district along the India-Bangladesh inland waterway protocol route between Sonamura in Tripura and Daudkandi in Bangladesh , nearly four years after the protocol route was initiated in 2020.
The project was launched as part of a series of similar initiatives, including upgraded terminals at Karimganj and Badarpur, and a passenger-cargo terminal at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh in Assam.
Inland waterways connectivity with Bangladesh began in Tripura in July 2020, with a floating jetty on the Gomati. The jetty, which connects Sonamura with Daudkandi in Bangladesh, was included in the list of Indo-Bangladesh Protocol routes signed between High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das and Bangladesh Shipping Secretary Md. Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury in Dhaka in May 2020.
Small boats and ferries capable of carrying 50 tonnes of goods were scheduled to start moving through this route to Bangladesh soon and, via the neighbouring soul, to the rest of India and beyond.
While some boats have moved and continue to do so, authorities said they were working to enhance the navigability of the rain-fed river, including plans for dredging the riverbed of the Gomati to facilitate small ships and boats from Sonamura to the Ashuganj river port in Bangladesh, which is only 60 km away, during the winter months.
The permanent jetty was initiated last year along with the new terminal.
India has 20 integrated checkposts, half of which are on the eastern boundary with Bangladesh.
