Suvendu unveils new vessels, smart gates at Millennium Park

Kolkata: In a first, smart gates have been installed for tickets entry, to ensure smooth management of passengers availing vessel service on river Hooghly from Millennium Park. Suvendu Adhikari, the state Transport minister, inaugurated the same on Tuesday.

It is a pilot project and with its success, similar smart gates will be installed at different such points. With installation of the smart gates, tickets or cards will no longer have to be checked manually and it will help in proper maintenance of the system.

Adhikari said that installation of the smart gates will make the functioning of the entire system much better. He further said that all steps have been taken to develop the infrastructure for a better service in the inland waterways. It will reduce pressure on roadways. Moreover, people will also enjoy a more comfortable journey.

He said that a major project has been taken up to give a new dimension to the waterways transport facility from Haldia to Farakka. The entire project will be funded by the World Bank and the work of the project will start as early as possible.

At the same time, Adhikari also inaugurated 15 passenger vessels and RoRo vessels that will operate on river Hooghly on Tuesday. The vessels include 11 wooden and four steel vessels. Each of the vessels has the capacity of carrying 100 passengers at a time.