GUWAHATI: To augment water transport, India and Bangladesh agreed to explore a route to run passenger and cruise vessels between Kolkata and Guwahati via Dhaka on Thursday, October 25.
The cruise vessels will ply on the Inland Protocol route and coastal shipping route.
The cruise liner is expected to start from Kolkata and will reach Dhaka via Sunderbans plying over protocol route 1 & 2 and 3 & 4. The liner will enter Assam from Dhubri and go up to Guwahati.
The decision was taken in a meeting pertaining to protocol arrangements and improvement of Inland Water Transportation. The two countries discussed various issues pertaining to the protocol arrangements and improvement of inland water transportation between the two countries in the 19th Standing Committee meeting under 'Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade' (PIWTT), stated a statement issued by the Ministry of Shipping.
The new arrangement will facilitate movement of fly ash, cement, construction materials etc from India to Bangladesh through IWT on Rupnarayan river.
In the meeting, it was proposed that the protocol routes from Kolkata be extended up to Silchar in Assam. These river cruise services are likely to commence between Kolkata - Dhaka and Guwahati - Jorhat and back.