GUWAHATI: Given the recent flood situation in Majuli and its non-connectivity to the mainland, as well as the flood conditions across Assam, the Assam government will be procuring four Ro-Pax vessels to facilitate this daily connectivity.
The Ro-Ro vessels which are presently operated by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) have not been functional in the current flood, said Chandra Mohan Patowary, Transport Minister, Assam.
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Patowary stated, "The Transport Department, Government of Assam, is in constant touch with the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India and on the state’s request, Inland Waterways Authority of India, Ministry of Shipping, will deliver Assam four new state-of-the-art 'Ro-Pax' vessels – built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd."
"The vessels will be operated in the National Waterways No. 2 stretching from Dhubri to Sadiya. The vessels are already en-route from Kolkata to Guwahati via Bangladesh and have reached Hemnagar, West Bengal today", added Patowary.
The new Ro-Pax vessels have a capacity of 200 passengers and along with these, can carry 2 trucks and 4 cars. These vessels have low draft, good maneuverability in comparison to the earlier Ro-Ro vessels which had less maneuverability due to bigger size and high draft for which it faced difficulty in plying over River Brahmaputra. These Ro-Pax vessels will replace the earlier Ro-Ro vessels. Out of these four new Ro-Pax vessels, two vessels would be placed in Majuli, one in Guwahati and another one in Dhubri.
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