Mamata launches India’s first electric vessel ‘Dheu’

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday inaugurated the first-of-its-kind electric vessel in the country from the transit camp of the Gangasagar pilgrims at Outram Ghat. The vessel named as ‘Dheu’ (wave) will operate as a pleasure trip from Millennium Park to Belur-Dakshineswar.

“The vessel solely powered by batteries and supplemented by solar panels to cater for lighting loads boasts zero emissions and minimal non-polluting overboard discharge, ensuring a clean and sustainable operation,” said a senior official of the state Transport department. The vessel has a seating capacity of 92 passengers that includes AC as well as non-AC facilities. The total cost of manufacturing the vessel is Rs 13.5 crore. The Catamaran Hull form of the vessel has been indigenously developed in association with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, optimised for best performance using CFD analysis techniques and final hull form was validated with a model test. The vessel has a low draught and low wake, thus ensuring minimal disturbance to small vessels / boats while operating in close proximity.

The state government will be rolling out 13 electric vessels gradually. The 100-seater vessels will be plying in the outskirts of the city while those with 200 capacity will travel within Kolkata.

Presently, 138 vessels are in operation among which 50 per cent that have been procured in the last 10 years are less polluting but the rest in the fleet that have been procured over the years since 1978 to 1990 are highly polluting. With the introduction of the new e vessels, the state will be replacing the highly polluting ones that are in operation for a long time.

The introduction of these vessels is one of the parameters of the ‘Inland Water Transport and Modal Integration of Transport and Urban Upgradation’ project taken up by the state government.

The total cost of the project is Rs 1,021 crore out of which the World Bank Loan is around Rs 700 crore.