Longest vessel sailing on Brahmaputra docks at Pandu via Bangladesh

The longest vessel ever to sail on Brahmaputra M V Ram Prasad Bismil docked at Pandu port in Guwahati on Tuesday. The 90 metre long cargo vessel along with two barges DB Kalpana Chawla and DB APJ Abdul Kalam was flagged off from Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Haldia on February 16 by the Minister for Shipping, Ports and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal.

It carried 1793 metric tonnes of steel rods from Haldia in West Bengal to Pandu in Assam covering the distance through Bangladesh on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR).

Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called it the joining of 'Maa Ganga' to 'Pita Brahmaputra' made possible due to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He thanked the Inland Water Transport Authority of Bangladesh and India who worked together to achieve this feat.

He also thanked the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Chief Ministers of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar for the support provided for the successful completion of the pilot run.

The barges moved along National Waterways NW1 (Ganga) through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route (IBP route) to National Waterways NW2 (Brahmaputra) . It passed through Haldia, Hemnagar in West Bengal and then through Khulna, Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Chilmari in Bangladesh back to Dhubri and Jogighopa in India to reach Pandu near Guwahati in Assam.