What is the News?
India has successfully conducted the maiden voyage of foodgrains via inland waterways from Patna to Pandu through Bangladesh in Guwahati.
What has happened?
A self propelled vessel MV Lal Bahadur Shastri carrying foodgrains for Food Corporation of India (FCI) has completed the maiden pilot run from Patna to Pandu via Bangladesh.
The vessel started from Patna on National Waterway(NW-1) (river Ganga) and passed through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol(IBP) route and through National Waterway(NW-2) (river Brahmaputra).
Must Read: Inland Waterways in India- Issues and Challenges
This has allowed India to successfully cut through the landlocked access which has been crippling development in the Northeast region for long.
What is the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol(IBP) route?
The Indo-Bangladesh Protocol(IBP) route was signed between India and Bangladesh in 1972 to provide inland waterways’ connectivity between the two countries, particularly with the North Eastern Region of India, and also to enhance bilateral trade.
Under this Protocol, Inland vessels of both the countries can ply on the designated protocol route and dock at Ports of Call in each country notified for loading/unloading of cargo.
The Standing Committee on the Protocol and the Shipping Secretary level Talks are the institutional arrangements between the two countries to discuss and make the Protocol more effective.
Some of the existing protocol routes include Kolkata-Pandu-Kolkata, Kolkata-Karimganj – Kolkata, Rajshahi-Dhulian-Rajshahi and Pandu-Karimganj-Pandu among others.
Source: This post is based on the article “Brahmaputra (NW2) gets connected with Ganga (NW1) via Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route” published in PIB on 7th Mar 2022.
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