Information about 'Jibondinga' for boat owners

Jibondinga is a scheme for the owners of country boats. Funded by the World Bank, the scheme with incentives is being implemented by the Directorate of Inland Water Transport (IWT), Assam.

The scheme provides several primary and secondary benefits. The primary benefits include 70 per cent subsidy to country boat operators against the cost of retrofitting or replacement of previous engines with marine engines; 5 and 10 per cent additional incentives for women and women enterprises and self-help groups (SHGs) respectively; capacity building for boat operators and boat builders; replacement of existing water pipes/automobile engines with marine engines; providing frightening instruments and /GPS etc.

The secondary benefits include insurance for boats and passengers for a period of three years; extended warranty on marine engines for two years; purchase and fitting of marines engines at affordable prices for boats under the scheme, etc.

The eligibility criteria for the scheme are – registration of the country boats under the Directorate of IWT; existing country boats with a minimum length of ten metres; and country boats less than ten years old; among others. The last date for submission of application forms is November 30, 2020. The application forms for the scheme can be collected from and submitted to www.aiwtdsociety.in; www.iwtdirectorate.assam.gov.in, at the respective Assam Inland Water Transport offices at ghats, sub-division offices, division offices and the head office.

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