Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal told the media that India has started developing a new shipping route via Bangladesh to link its North-Eastern with West Bengal areas. The cargo and passenger ships from Assam and the northeast would be linked to Haldia via Bangladesh. Sonowal, while conversing at the Brahmaputra River Conclave at the continuing Northeast Festival, said that Work has begun for waterways along the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers, and cargo and passenger ships from Assam and India's northeast will be linked to Haldia in West Bengal through Bangladesh. He said that the transformation via transportation is the concept behind the revamping of waterways as means of communication. Work has already commenced to pave the way for national waterways (Brahmaputra and Barak) to ease the movement of cargo ships. He added that the coastal and maritime shipping would obtain growth with the opening up of the northeastern markets. He also said that they should not limit themselves to the Brahmaputra. They must go beyond and create waterways via other rivers such as Aie, Dhansiri, Manas etc. All the eight states must jointly work towards the area's development, Sonowal added. A Selvakumar, the Director of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) made a presentation on steps taken for redeveloping the river networks in the nation's northeast. Image Source