Workshop on Jalodhara project

Kolkata: In a bid to further improve the Inland Water Transport system and to ensure river safety, the state Transport department held a workshop on its project Jalodhara that will ensure safe and secure journey of passengers in waterways.

The workshop was held at Nazrul Tirtha where the state Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari was present. Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the Additional Chief Secretary of the department was also present at the workshop. Adhikari said: "Everyday around three lakh passengers avail the waterways and all sorts of steps have been taken to ensure their safety and security." It may be mentioned that the state government has introduced the Jalodhara project to ensure introduction of properly designed mechanised boats by replacing the semi-mechanised ones. The state government has announced to give Rs one lakh to replace the semi-mechanised ones with the properly designed ones.

In Monday's workshop, representatives of different bodies, bankers, ferry operators, officials from the district authorities were present and discussed different issued related to the Jalodhara project.

Adhikari maintained that steps have been taken to ensure safety and security of passengers who avail waterways which will avert untoward incidents that took place earlier at Kalna, Katwa and Kolaghat.

It may be mentioned that the state Transport department is developing jetties at a cost of Rs 10 lakh each at different places along river Hooghly. The work to develop the jetties following the standard operating procedures (SOP) has been taken up and it has already been executed at different points.