High-speed boat from Fairlie Place, Chandannagore route to start soon

Kolkata: State Transport Department is all set to run high-speed boat on Fairlie Place – Chandannagore route soon.

"At present we are running two vessels (Water bus) on the Chandannagore – Fairlie Place route. It will take six to eight months to introduce high-speed boat on that route," said a senior official. After an over two-month-long hiatus owing to the lockdown, the ferry services, operated by the West Bengal Transport Corporation and Hooghly Nadi Jalapath Paribahan Samabay Samiti (HNJPSS), resumed with 40 percent of the passenger capacity of the vessels and following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) towards safe operation of Inland Water Transport on June 1.

The vessel services are running on 29 routes on river Hooghly. While the first water bus service from Chandannagore connecting Kolkata made its official debut on July 1, the vessels are operational five days a week from Monday to Friday.

In October 2019, state Transport minister Suvendu Adhkari flagged off new ferry services from Kuthighat. 200 seater double enginevessels were pressed into service to connect Kuthighat, Bagbazar ghat and Farlie Place ghat. The new ferry services have benefitted the people of Baranagar, Cossipore and North Kolkata after plying of buses and heavy vehicles were restricted on

Talla Bridge in September last year.