As the government launches a project to use waterways to transport goods on a large scale, Deeptiman Tiwary and Neeraj Priyadarshi ride one of the first two ships to find the scope, limitations of the ambitious plan
At Varanasi’s Raj Ghat on the banks of the Ganga, two large merchant vessels, decorated with marigold flowers and balloons, await a flag-off by Union minister Nitin Gadkari. Under a large tent, government officials are darting around trying to fix last-minute glitches. A curious crowd is gathered around the venue even as another leans over for a glimpse from the British-era bridge nearby.
Barely 50 metres away, a family, untouched by the euphoria, is busy piling wood over the body of a loved one. As the pyre is lit, Gadkari arrives. When he waves a flag to set off the vessels, the crowd breaks into slogans of “Bharat Mata ki jai”. The burning wood crackles nearby unheard.
It is only in Varanasi that sorrow and celebration can co-exist; the beginning and end coming together so seamlessly. On August 12, one of the oldest living cities in the world, also the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, became the launchpad for an ambitious government project to move goods on a large scale over inland waterways, to cut transportation costs substantially. MV VV Giri and MV Joy Basudev took off with a consignment of 24 newly assembled Maruti cars and 1,400 tonnes of goods, respectively. Joy Basudev was headed for Ballia in UP. VV Giri was to travel to Kolkata — a distance of 1,100 km, over ‘National Waterway 1’.
WATCH VIDEO: The Maiden Journey On National Waterway 1: Testing The Waters
The government’s Jal Marg Vikas Project, to develop these waterways, has a budget of Rs 4,200 crore for National Waterway 1 alone. That’s Rs 17 crore more than the total budget of the Ministry of Shipping for 2016-17.
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The government’s Jal Marg Vikas Project, to develop these waterways, has a budget of Rs 4,200 crore for National Waterway 1 alone.
Such facts fall away before the Ganga. And on August 12 noon, as VV Giri, with us and a six-member crew, and Joy Basudev with its six men take off from the makeshift Raj Ghat port, they do it at a respectful pace of 15 kmph, mindful that the gentle swell — extending more than a kilometre between banks —could prove treacherous.
Before the Ganga becomes a viable medium to transport cargo throughout the year, the riverbed must be dredged to maintain minimum depth, and it must have state-of-the-art inland ports, a modern river information system and Digital Global Positioning System for night navigation.
We are far away from that this day. Along the river most closely associated with the passage of centuries, time stands still. Sleepy villages, crops swaying in the monsoon breeze, and the occasional fisherman standing content by his net leave the ships alone. It’s only the children playing in the water who wave enthusiastically. The small fish also take note, leaping across the surface.
About 10 km in, the Ganga isn’t as polluted. The garbage on the city banks has been left behind, and the rest has been washed away somewhat by the monsoon. However, the rains have also brought down mud from the hills, turning the water grey.
At the quintessential temple ghats adjoining every small town and village along the banks, no more than five to 10 steps are visible. The crew of VV Giri notes this with satisfaction. Only a few weeks ago, when they sailed towards Varanasi from Bengal, more than 50 steps could be seen, they say. “In a matter of two weeks, the water level has gone up at least by 3 metres,” says the Master of VV Giri Shaktipada Das. That matters.
While rainwater swells the river to anywhere between 7 m and 13 m, once the monsoon water recedes, the depth of the Ganga can go below 2 m at places. Ships such as VV Giri need at least a 3-m depth to sail safely. It is to make up for the dry stretches that the dredging is required.
“This trial run is to show that we can sail vessels carrying 1,400 tonnes of goods. It is to instill confidence in the industry. We still have to work on the infrastructure,” says Amitabh Verma, chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the authority regulating navigation on waterways.
A crew member aboard VV Giri, which hits at least one major storm.
Should a ship get grounded in months such as September or October, when waters run low, it might have to wait for almost a year before levels rise and it can leave. “A few years ago, a ship got stuck near Bhagalpur in Bihar. The owner had to hire security for a year for it till it moved,” says Chittaranjan Giri, VV Giri’s driver.
So, during this first run, VV Giri and Joy Basudev are flanked by Ghagra, a survey vessel that keeps track of navigation channels, and Sukhdev, a tug boat for help should the ships get stuck. Ghagra is fitted with an echo instrument which measures depth and is integrated with a GPS system.
Inderjeet Solanki, a waterway transporter, consultant and contractor, is a key figure in this trial run. Solanki says that the government is now trying to build ships that can sail in 1.5-m depth. “We are working on making the ships wider,” he says.
VV Giri Captain Virendra Gollen, a sailor with 15 years of experience, including in international waters, has been especially hired by the IWAI to safely steer the Maruti consignment to Kolkata. He says there is no alternative to ensuring a permanent channel with a minimum depth of 3 m.
“If you want to have business throughout the year, you have to have a functional channel where the sailor can trust the depth. You have to give ships navigation aids and mark the channels; give them good landing facilities and secure banks,” says Gollen.
Fishermen passing by on a boat at Doraiganj, their sails fashioned out of bedsheets and tarpaulin.
For now, it all rests on the wide shoulders of Motilal Chaudhary, the 52-year-old pilot of the ship. With 28 years of experience on the Ganga, Chaudhary can be trusted to tell the depth of a spot by merely looking at the flow of water and the ripples.
About 25 km away from Varanasi, he sees water moving swiftly over a stretch and asks Master Das to steer away: “It’s a shallow patch.” At another spot, he concludes that a small whirlpool indicates there is a trench. “Although the channel is marked by survey vessels and we have a map, you can never fully trust the depth of the Ganga in UP and Bihar. Because of a sandy bed, it often changes channel. If two months ago, you have gone adjacent to the left bank, you might find yourself navigating on the right now,” Chaudhary says.
This is one reason why National Waterway 1, India’s first and longest, notified back in 1986 and running over 1,600 km from Allahabad to Haldia, is hardly used for transporting goods. That is, except for the stretch between Farakka and Haldia, both in Bengal, which is regularly used to ferry coal.
Fifteen minutes later, a massive storm hits the ship. As the cascading sweep obscures vision, the wind makes the ship list. Das struggles to regain control. Captain Gollen hollers from his cabin to decrease the speed as the 800-tonne ship is lifted up 90 degrees and then comes to settle horizontal to the waters. The thought is on everyone’s mind: on board VV Giri is 12,000 litres of fuel. While both the vessels have a capacity of around 1,400 tonnes each, VV Giri is carrying only 300 tonnes of load since this is a trial run.
The Master frantically tries to control the ship. Finally, he manages to turn it around and line it upstream, in the direction of the wind. It takes about 10 minutes for the storm to pass. “That was a big one,” exhales Das, with a wry smile to colleague Chittaranjan Giri, as they proceed to pat each other.
Just 5 km before Kainthi town, the two ships are steered into position shoulder-to-shoulder. Some bags have to be transferred and the pilots exchanged. They do so just jumping onto the other deck, the whole exercise taking no more than 10 seconds. “We do this all the time,” assures Das. At Kainthi, VV Giri and Joy Basudev part ways as the latter has to take on some cement bags.
There are few proper inland ports, and loading or unloading is time-consuming and expensive. Even the temporary landing facilities at times cost more than Rs 5 lakh each, Gollen says. The contractor must generate enough business on that port to recover that kind of cost. The other option is ferrying goods on boats to the ships, but this involves labour, which scales up the costs again and brings down profits, Gollen says.
VV Giri has sailed on, with Ghagra and Sukhdev, as it cannot delay the commitment made to Maruti. Just a few kilometres ahead is a bridge that tapers rather prominently from the right to the left bank. The crew informs that the bridge is high on the right to allow large ships to go under it.
Bridges are another thing on the IWAI’s mind, and their design has to be in line with the plans for cargo transportation. By now, television has spread the word about the significance of VV Giri going down the Ganga. All along the banks after Kainthi, people are gathered for a glimpse. This includes a local police team.
As the vessels, including the two boats, go past, they shout out, whistle and wave. At Chuchakpur Sankat Mochan temple, the whole village appears to have converged to the banks. Enthusiastic children have come down to the boats.
It’s evening now and the light is fading fast. As it gets dark, the vessels drop anchor on the right bank of the river, next to a well-lit temple where a kirtan is on. Due to lack of night navigation facilities, carrying on after dark is impossible. Adjacent to the temple is a compound with almost 15-ft high walls and concertina wire. Policemen patrol the boundary with searchlights as others keep an eye from two towers, guns in hand.
The mast with the national flag is lowered for smooth sailing in windy conditions
This is Ghazipur, and what looks like a high-security prison is the 19th-century opium factory which, as per Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies, single-handedly financed the British Raj in India. Today, the factory has expanded and become the Govt Opium and Alkaloid Works, processing both raw opium and extracting pharmaceutical precursors. The company has a turnover of Rs 200 crore and has never been in loss.
It’s stops like these that give the government hope of making National Waterway 1 a tourist route. Right now only four tourist vessels ply on the route, largely during the monsoons, carrying foreigners.
The crew hop out to buy vegetables and stock up supplies as VV Giri comes to a rest. The market is just half a kilometre away. The food, served later with minimal fuss, is vegetarian: thick chapatis, stir fried aloo-parwal, yellow dal and some coarse rice, made onboard by the ship’s cook.
But wouldn’t the predominantly Bengali crew savour some of the fish sailing by them? “The fish here in UP and Bihar feast on human bodies. We can’t eat that. We prefer the fish in Kolkata,” says Chittaranjan Giri.
While the halt is welcome, Gollen points out that the transportation business can’t afford such breaks. “It wastes a lot of time. But night navigation is only possible with well-maintained permanent channels marked either with light buoys or pillars.” Certain stretches in Kerala have such marks, he adds.
Arun Kumar, the surveyor on the Ghagra, says the IWAI is developing electronic maps and integrated GPS systems which ships can access for data on channel routes and depth. “Still, markers are needed,” he admits. *******
There are few proper inland ports, and loading or unloading is time-consuming and expensive.
Against the backdrop of some people performing yoga and youngsters racing on boats, VV Giri sets sail again at 7 the next morning, with Ghagra leading the way. As he checks the depth and channel trajectory, Kumar says conducting surveys is one of the most important jobs in waterway transportation. The 25-year-old also talks about how as the government’s ambitions rise, the minimum depth may have to be recalibrated. “At present, the minimum depth to be maintained between Allahabad and Patna is 1.5 m, Patna to Barh is 2 m and Barh to Kolkata is 2.5 m,” says Kumar.
Around 10 am, at a point where river Karunasa meets the Ganga, the vessels enter Bihar, travelling to Bhojpur. It’s in Bihar that the Ganga acquires its full might, stretching over 4-5 km from one bank to the other, with patches of land in the middle. On these islands grow some of the best vegetables in the region, thanks to the alluvial soil brought by the Ganga. Boats of farmers and fishermen bob around these islands, their sails fashioned out of bedsheets and tarpaulin.
As the sinking sun paints the sky crimson, the ships reach Doriganj in Saran district. This is the last lap of the day’s journey, before the vessels reach Patna. As Ghagra escorts VV Giri across a precarious stretch under an under-construction cable bridge, the horizon opens to hundreds of boats. On the left bank are tethered at least 200 boats, with trucks queued up behind them.
This is the sand mining hub of the route, with boats carrying sand from Sone river and unloading at Doriganj, to be further carried in trucks across Bihar and elsewhere. It’s here that an operational National Waterway 1 could be put to immediate use.
As the ships move towards Patna, a passenger boat passes by. A man in white vest and dhoti hangs by the rudder and relieves himself right in the river. Done, he climbs up and sits with the other passengers. A VV Giri crew member grins, “There will be many unexpected challenges to all that the government wants to do on the Ganga.” ******
It is midnight August 19 when VV Giri reaches the Kolkata port, with the night navigation facilities in West Bengal easing the way. The only bump are strong monsoon winds just before Kolkata. Early morning Saturday, the Maruti cars are unloaded.
The Jal Marg Vikas Project
India’s waterways
Notified: 111
Functional/partially functional: 5
Total potential navigational length of all waterways: 14,500 km
Cost to make ready National Waterway 1: Rs 4,200 cr (partially funded by World Bank)
Why waterways
* Cost of transportation by waterways is 30-50 paisa per tonne per km (PTPK), compared to Rs 1 PTPK for rail, and Rs 1.5 PTPK for road
* While time taken by road from, say, Varanasi to Kolkata is 2 days, IWAI officials note that a typical road trailer carries six cars. In comparison, a river vessel can carry 300 if it’s a double decker. So, a large vessel can replace 50 trailers on road
* High potential for tourism
Potential
* In India, only 3.5% of trade is done over water, against 47% in China, 44% in Japan, 35% in Bangladesh
* Government plans to increase share of waterways goods traffic to 7% by 2018
Eco-friendly, cheaper: Gadkari
A boat ferrying people passes an underconsruction bridge across Ganga in Doriganj, Bihar. Express photo by Neeraj Priyadarshi
* MV V V Giri and MV Joy Basudev took off on the Ganga from Varanasi on August 12, carrying 24 newly assembled Maruti cars and 1,400 tonnes of goods, respectively. VV Giri was headed for Kolkata and Joy Basudev for Ballia in UP
* The ships were flagged off by Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, who also laid the foundation stone for a multi-modal terminal at Varanasi, to connect upcoming inland waterway terminal with road and rail networks
* The country had five notified waterways before the government notified 106 more this year. However, of the 14,500 km of waterways, cargo transportation in an organised manner is confined to Goa, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala — that too on a small scale
* As the National Waterways Bill notifying the new waterways was passed in Parliament, Gadkari had said, “Inland Waterways is a much cheaper and environment-friendly mode of transportation”
* Gadkari had also pointed out that with logistics cost as high as 18% in India, an industrialist had pointed out to PM Narendra Modi that transporting things from Mumbai to London was less expensive compared to transportation to Delhi from Mumbai
