Bangladesh bound cargo ships stranded in Brahmaputra

Over 50 cargo ships along with over 200 workers from Bangladesh are stranded in western Assam's Dhubri district due to the low water levels in the Brahmaputra river.

Guwahati: Over 50 cargo ships along with over 200 workers from Bangladesh are stranded in western Assam's Dhubri district due to the low water levels in the Brahmaputra river. The cargo ships with stones and boulders had set sail to Bangladesh about a month back but were stranded in the middle of the river near Dhubri due to decreasing water levels. Officials of the Inland Water Authority (IWA) department said that 57 ships and over 200 crews have been stranded midway at Dhubri for the last 20 days.

Although the Bangladesh government had taken up steps to dredge the Jamuna river in Bangladesh, the portion of the Brahmaputra river, National Waterways II, is yet to be dredged by the Assam government, which has led to the problem. The export of stone involving three countries--Bhutan, India, and Bangladesh resumed last year after the signing of a tripartite agreement among the three countries. With Bangladesh seeing a construction boom recently, the country decided to import stones from Bhutan through India's National Waterways II.

According to sources, the stones are brought to Dhubri from Bhutan and then loaded in cargo ships to be sailed into Bangladesh. The 57 ships reached Dhubri from Bangladesh about a month back and started sailing towards Bangladesh but had to be stranded due to the decreasing water level in the Brahmaputra riverway. The incident has also questioned the Central government's recent announcement to establish seamless cargo transportation through the Brahmaputra to the landlocked northeast.

Recently, Union Minister of ports, shipping, and waterways and AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal had flagged off an inland waterway vessel MV Lal Bahadur Shastri from Patna to Guwahati. The vessel which started its journey from Patna is carrying 200 Metric Tonnes of foodgrains headed for Pandu in Guwahati and will travel via Bangladesh to reach the destination by early March this year.