Army is planning to move its military cargo right to China’s doorsteps in the east through Brahmaputra river. On Tuesday, Army and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) jointly launched a scoping mission from Bogibeel Ghat in Dibrugarh to survey the 891-km stretch of Brahmaputra in Assam from Sadiya in east to Dhubri in the west.
Brahmaputra river flows through Tibet as Tsangpo river and enters India from northern Arunachal Pradesh state as the Dihang (or Siang) river before becoming Brahmaputra as it enters Assam. It enters the plains of Bangladesh in Dhubri district of Assam to confluence with Ganga.
Defence PRO Lt Col S Newton said, “Aim of this survey is to identify requirement of additional infrastructure to facilitate large scale movement of commercial and military cargo through the Brahmaputra River on the Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of approximately 891 km, which was declared as National Waterway No 2 (NW-2) in the year 1988. Since then, although IWAI has developed significant infrastructure on NW-2, however it has remained under exploited for a long time.”
General Officer Commanding the Jorhat based Sub Area of Indian Army Maj Gen Balraj Mehta and IWAI secretary Shashi Bhushan Shukla, jointly flagged off the scoping mission.
The PRO said that the mission will visit the various places along Brahmaputra River and submit report focussing on transportation through NW-2 in a multi-modal transport concept. “It will also give recommendation on upgrading of infrastructure for movement of commercial goods, passengers, military cargo and identification of new locations for setting up permanent terminals with road and rail connectivity which can be used both for commercial and defence purposes. The mission will complete this preliminary survey on November 17 and will submit its report by end December 2017,”he said..
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