Assam Govt to ply four new ‘Ro-Pax’ vessels on Brahmaputra

Four new "Ro-Pax" vessels will operate on National Waterways No 2, stretching from Dhubri to Sadiya, Assam, for convenience of the inhabitants of Majuli river island and people of other parts of Assam, Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said on Monday.

These vessels have low draft, good manoeuvrability in comparison to the earlier "Ro-Ro" vessels which had less manoeuvrability due to bigger size and high draft for which it faced difficulty in plying over River Brahmaputra.

Acting on the state's request, the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Ministry of Shipping, is delivering the four new state-of-the-art Ro-Pax vessels to the state.

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The vessels are already en-route from Kolkata to Guwahati via Bangladesh and have reached Hemnagar in West Bengal on Monday, Patowary said.

The new "Ro-Pax" vessels have a capacity of 200 passengers and can carry two trucks and four cars. These "Ro-Pax" vessels will replace the "Ro-Ro" vessels. Out of these four new vessels, two would be placed in Majuli, one in Guwahati and another one in Dhubri.

In view of the Ro-Ro vessel service in Assam, Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in a statement today said, ‘We are deeply concerned with the plights of the inhabitants of Majuli and people of other parts of Assam for the non-functioning of Ro-Ro vessels operated by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Government of India.’

The Minister 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.’

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