Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) pooh-poohs Ro-Pax Ferry service

GUWAHATI: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has said that the much-hyped launch of Mahabahu Brahmaputra with the flagging off of the Ro-Pax Ferry Service from Majuli-Neemati, South Guwahati-North Guwahati and Dhubri-Hatisingimari on the Brahmputra by PM Modi needs to be taken with a pinch of salt as the Ro-Pax Ferry Service that was launched in Gujarat in 2017 by PM Narendra Modi has flopped badly.

PM Modi had launched a similar Ro-Pax service in Gujarat in 2017 by inaugurating a Ro-Ro Ferry service connecting Ghogha and Hazira in Gulf of Khambhat. But the service discontinued in 2020, said APCC's media department chairperson Bobbeeta Sharma said in a statement issued on Thursday.

PM Modi had claimed that the ferry service would reduce the distance of travelling 330 km by road to 31 km by sea. However, the owner of the company – Indigo Seaways Company that was running the service – was on the lookout to sell the company as it was not financially viable to carry on the project. But PM Modi had claimed that daily 12,000 people would use the service, the statement said.

Subsequently the Hazira port terminal has been leased to the Adani Group close to PM Modi for 11 months at Re 1 per month! The Adani group was also responsible for the dredging of the sea but their machineries failed and dredging could not go on which disrupted the service, she said.

"The question that arises now is: Have the technical details been planned and laid out for the RO-PAX Ferry Service in Assam? Or will it face the same fate as the much-hyped Ro-Ro Ferry in Gujarat which is dysfunctional? Since the Gujarat service has failed why have they started it in Assam? These pertinent questions need to be answered. Given the negative reports of the Ro-Ro Ferry service in Gujarat it is a matter of suspicion that the much-hyped RO-Pax Service in Assam is nothing but an election stunt," she said.

The foundation for the Nemati-Majuli bridge was laid on 27th February, 2016 by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari near Majuli College playground and another foundation stone is being laid for the same bridge. "What was the Government doing in the last five years that they hurry to lay foundation stones only during the time of election?," she questioned.

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