The Farakka Barrage Complex is nearing completion of a new navigation lock to improve vessel passage on India’s National Waterway-1, which is critical for sustaining river connectivity between two areas of the country via Bangladesh river systems. Officials from Bangladesh’s Shipping Ministry stated they were aware of the new navigation lock being built much beyond the 150 yards from the Indian border and not on the Ganges River’s main flow. Any permanent building within 150 yards of the borders requires written authorization from both sides.
‘There will be hardly any adverse impact on Bangladesh unless India withdraw additional water from the Ganges River for the operation of the new navigation lock,’ Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services executive director Malik Fida A Khan told.
The new navigation lock, on a canal connecting the Ganges and the main feeder canal of the Farakka Barrage, was expected to be completed by June 2021 but was delayed due to the Covid pandemic.
Utilizing the present Farakka lock, a vessel can travel upstream or downstream in around two hours or more, but using the new lock, a vessel can travel the distance in only 38 minutes, according to an IWAI estimate. Only if the movement of one vessel is followed by the movement of another vessel in the opposite direction will the operating time be reduced to 23 minutes.
According to the IWAI, upstream and downstream vessel flow will significantly rise through the new lock, with 7,850 vessels in 2025, 24,116 in 2035, and over 25,000 in 2045.
The new navigation lock in Murshidabad district is also expected to facilitate the movement of hilsa fish between the Hoogly–Bhagirathi river system and the upstream of the Ganges River beyond the Farakka Barrage, according to the IWAI.
