Assam: Importance of waterways in international trade highlighted

Guwahati: Noted agricultural scientist Dr Veena Vidyadharan has outlined the importance of riverine transport and water ways and mentioned the recent bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and India in the Brahmaputra and Meghna River basins, for instance, the MoU on the use of the coastal protocol routes for riverine transit and trade.

Delivering the first Arun Roy Memorial Lecture here recently  on the topic, “Inland Water Transport: Challenges and Opportunities in the context of the Brahmaputra”, Dr Vidyadharan spoke at length of about the National Water Way 2 (the Brahmaputra) and the NW-16 (The Barak) and informed the audience about the status of trade and commerce taking place between the two countries through rivers. She also highlighted the challenges being encountered of late in sustaining the initiatives of the two governments.

Finally, she made several salient recommendations for the improvement of the IWT sector in Assam and for enhancement of IWT-centric trade and livelihoods.

The lecture programme was organised jointly on July 7 by Aaranyak and the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati and the Northeast India Water Forum (NIWaF) at the Conference Hall, Institution of Engineers, Assam State Centre here.

Dr. Veena Vidyadharan is a Fellow at the CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS CITEE) known in short as the CUTS International, an international think tank based in Jaipur, India. Trained as an agricultural scientist in her graduate, post graduate and doctoral levels, Dr. Veena has about 20 years of experience and expertise in research and project management related to agriculture, climate change, connectivity, transboundary water governance, regional integration and livelihoods, and food security all with a focus on gender.

She has been working consistently on issues of inland navigation and transboundary riverine trade. Dr. Veena has caried several of her studies in in collaboration with late Arun Roy.

Late Er. Arun Roy (1954-2021) was considered as one of the foremost experts on river engineering and Inland Waterways Transport Operations in India. He had vast knowledge about the history of development water transport and commerce in the India-Bangladesh region especially in Assam covering mainly the Brahmaputra and the Barak (Meghna).

At the same time, he was an accomplished expert on ship-making. Late Roy served in the Inland Water Authorities India (IWAI) where he held important positions like the Chief Engineer and Director for the northeastern region based at the Guwahati office at the Pandu Port. He joined the IWAI in August 1987 and retired in November 2014 after completing a career of distinguished service spanning over 27 years.

The programme began with a welcome address by Prof Anamika Barua, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati. Prof Barua briefly provided the back ground of this collaborative initiative of the three organisations that came together to commemorate the contribution of late Roy to the sector of Inland water transport and trade and commerce in Northeast India.

Dr. Partha J Das, Head of Water, Climate and Hazard Division of Aaranyak spoke about the life and the remarkable achievements of late Roy in the domain of river engineering and riverine transport and trade. It was followed by offering of floral tribute to late Roy. Dr. Das then introduced Dr. Veena Vidyadharan, the invited speaker of the event.

After the commemoration session, both Dr. Veena and Prof. Anamika were felicitated which was followed by a round of self-introduction by the 30 plus participants

An open house discussion followed the lecture for about an hour where issues discussed by Dr. Veena as well as many other dimensions of the IWT sector were flagged. The intense deliberations dwelt on the question of navigability of rivers, flooding, erosion, transboundary nature of rivers, climate change, river geomorphology, government policies etc. and how such factors have affected the potential of the river transport projects. The discussion session was moderated by Er. Anup Kumar Mitra, President, NIWaF.

The programme ended with a vote of thanks by Er. P.P. Changkakati, Executive President, NIWaF.

Dr. Partha J Das, on behalf of the organisers, declared that they would like to continue the Arun Roy Memorial       

Also Read: Assam: Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika takes stock of flood situation in Guwahati (sentinelassam.com)

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