Union Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya on Saturday said that a permanent jetty would be built in Sonamura to facilitate trade through Sonamura-Daudkandi protocol route.
The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways also laid emphasis on the importance of North East and observed that if the waterways connectivity can be effectively extended to Tripura’s Sonamura and Assam’s Karimganj and Dhubri, farmers of the region would be highly benefited as agriculture produces of these regions would get international exposure.
He said, the funds have been allocated in this year’s budget to construct necessary infrastructure in Sonamura and by the end of this year, work would begin. According to Mandaviya, the waterway connectivity in which the government laid so much emphasis was not new but the government was trying to revive the old routes so that the North East region could be connected with the rest of the country.
“From Sonamura’s river Gomati the inland waterway route shall meet Jamuna River in Bangladesh that is known as Brahmaputra in Assam, through Jamuna we shall move ahead towards Haldia and from there only 1,400 killometres journey shall land you in Banaras.
Mansukh L Mandaviya visited the floating jetty installed at Sonamura’s Srimantapur area on Saturday evening. The Union Minister spent almost an hour and inspected the progress of the project. MP Pratima Bhowmik, Manager Land Port Authority of India’s managed Agartala ICP Debasish Nandi escorted him to the spot and briefed him about the present situation.
While speaking to the media after his visit, the Union Minister said, the Indian government is spending Rs 300 crore for dredging of this specific protocol route which is included as 9-10 protocol route. He said, “only 500 meters of the water body fall under the Indian territory. On the other hand, the 93.5-kilometer road falls under Bangladesh territory. We are doing dredging of the river need basis”.
On the proposed terminal, he said, Rs 30 crore has been earmarked for constructing a terminal.
The government is developing 4,000 kilometers of inland waterways – Banaras to Haldia 1,400 Kilometers, Haldia to Sundarban 200 kilometers, Sundarban to Jamuna 500 kilometers and Jamuna to Brahmaputra (Assam) 890 kilometers and for these routes, North East will be connected with the rest of India. The region has been neglected so far and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi , this region is being given the highest importance”, he said.
Replying to a query, he said, between Ashuganj and Sonamura there are some dredging issues that are going to be resolved soon. For the next two-three months, dredging shall continue in the stretch between these two ports.
Apart from that, there are some low structures that prevent smooth movement of the barges or vessels, he said and added that there was one solution to link the Chittagong and Mongla ports with Tripura by road taking advantage of their proximity to the state. But, the government wants to utilize Sonamura as a port so that it can have direct linkage which will facilitate the agriculture sector of the region as fruits and other goods can be directly sent to Middle-East countries using designated routes, he added.
He said, “we want direct linkage of Sonamura, Karimganj and Dhubri to the rest of India so that the agriculture sector of this region fetches higher benefits out of it”.
According to the Union Minister, DPR of the Sonamura project is getting ready and soon the things will be sorted out. He also urged the farmers to rely more on organic farming and lauded Tripura’s queen pineapple that according to him was very popular in Delhi and other parts of the Country.
On being asked specifically on the low structures, he said, there two ways to resolve this issue too. The first is to develop infrastructure and the other is to develop the technology.
“The technological development has brought a lot of changes. Experts have been asked to work to design special vessels for that specific route for free movement without harming the existing structures as well as the volume of consignments”, said the Minister.
Apart from this issue, the Minister also laid emphasis on a range of issues and the Union budget 2021.
