India's Inland Waterways
The Brahmaputra and the Northeast
How National Waterway 2 on the Brahmaputra can connect the landlocked Northeast to the sea through Bangladesh, and the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route.
The Brahmaputra is National Waterway 2 (NW-2).
Route
About 891 km from Dhubri to Sadiya in Assam.
Northeast connectivity
The Northeast connects to mainland India through the narrow Siliguri Corridor; rivers through Bangladesh offer shorter routes to the sea.
Protocol route
The Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (since 1972) allows ships to use Bangladeshi rivers.
Kolkata to Assam
Barges carry goods from Kolkata to Pandu in Guwahati via Bangladesh.
Challenges
Silt, shifting channels and floods.
A barge from Kolkata travels through Bangladeshi rivers to reach Guwahati.
River routes through Bangladesh exist.
- The Brahmaputra is NW-2.
- The Northeast is linked by a narrow corridor.
- The protocol route runs through Bangladesh.
- Silt and floods are challenges.
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