The Bengal connection: With ministers, bureaucrats and journalists on board, MV Durga reaches Baghbazar

AUGUST 8, 2006, 3.30 P.M.
Chitpur Lock Gate, Kolkata

MV Durga and MV Niharika have been specially decorated for the occasion. Each can accommodate 40 people, and over the next hour, the two together will play host to a group of 70 ministers, bureaucrats, and journalists, together clubbed under the VIP-tag (Very Important Person) popular in the country. There are Bengal's famed sweetmeats, cakes and pastries in varied hues, and non-alcoholic beverages. The occasion itself is the first act of what is often called West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's Venice Dream, a project that seeks to use the 43-km long canal between Chitpur, adjoining the Cossipore terminal on the eastern bank of the Hoogly, and Kultigang where the water body meets the Bidyadhari. The canal passes through Baghbazar, Shyambazar, VIP Road, Salt Lake, the new township at Rajarhat, and the trading post at Bhangore. The distance between Chitpur to the beginning of the Raimangal, the point of entry into Bangladesh's river system, is a mere 90-km, through the canal and the Bidyadhari; the current route is around 275-km, down the Hoogly, and past the mangrove forests of the Sunderbans.

Bhattacharjee is aware of this fact, and the commercial benefits of knocking 185-km off a popular route. He also has ambitious plans of beautifying both banks of the canals: children's parks, flower gardens, cafes, he has thought of them all. Thirty minutes into a largely uneventful journey on the placid waters of the canal, we come across a model garden at Ultadanga. This, we are told, is how, the entire stretch will look. Ultadanga also marks the end of our journey; we are to turn back here for Chitpur Lock; it will take a while for the second stage of the canal, between Ultadanga and Kultigang to be ready for traffic.

It seems somehow apt that the two cities that were once the capital of British India, Chennai (formerly Madras) and Kolkata (Calcutta) boast waterways that were once popular means of inland transportation. The UK itself is renowned for its system of canals that traverse almost the entire country and which it has used to good effect to attract tourists. Since independence, however, the inland waterways in the two cities have suffered. Chennai's Buckingham Canal, once a water body that was more than 400 km long and extended from Chennai to Marakkanam, near Pondicherry on the South and Pedaganjam in Andhra Pradesh to the North, was built by the British to ship goods in and out of Chennai but has since fallen into disrepair (it hasn't been used for transport purposes since the early 1970s). There has been talk of reviving the canal and using it for commercial purposes, just as there has been talk of developing the two banks into entertainment zones replete with food courts, amusement parks, gardens, and children's parks.

Here lies the catch: MV Durga gets stuck in the mud at Ultadanga. MV Niharika meets with the same fate. (bottom) The locals on either side of the canal enjoy every bit of the drama

Kolkata's canal network, too, hasn't been used since the early 1970s. Until then, it was used to ferry passengers and cargo from Kolkata to Dibrugarh through what was then East Pakistan. There was even a regular biweekly steamer service. Raw jute and fresh produce was shipped into Kolkata from adjoining areas, and build materials shipped out. Since then, however, encroachments on the urban stretches of the banks, pollution, and lack of maintenance have combined to render the network unusable.

The dream of restoring the canals and using them for transportation has never really gone away in the two cities. Neither boasts a road network that can be compared to Delhi's, even after factoring in their smaller size; and neither has a railway network as extensive as Mumbai's. Then, there's the promise of parks, gardens, and play areas, all very alluring. Bhattacharjee's Venice obsession is entirely understandable.

At Ultadanga, the launches turn back and Bhattacharjee's plans run aground (at least temporarily). MV Durga, ferrying ministers and bureaucrats (including Housing Minister and Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation Chairman Goutam Deb, Irrigation Minister Subhash Naskar, Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb, and Transport Secretary Sumantra Chowdhury) gets stuck in the mud while turning back. Soon, mv Niharika meets with the same fate. The finger-pointing starts. "We are stuck because of the low depth of the canal." "The excavation work has not been carried our properly." "The irrigation department is responsible for desilting." The ministers and the bureaucrats have to bear the indignity of jumping off the ferries. HIDCO execs explain that while the required depth to run a ferry is eight feet, the canal is only two feet deep in some places. Further desilting, they add, is required to keep the project (promoted jointly by hidco, the Irrigation Department, the Transport Department and Kolkata Municipal Corporation), well, afloat. "We will eventually operate passenger, cargo, and leisure vessels from Chitpur to Kulti via Salt Lake and Rajarhat," stresses one functionary of the state government before leaving the spot in a bit of a huff. A flak-catcher calls up later to claim that the whole exercise was a "trial run" to ascertain the "problems and difficulties". And so, India progresses towards upgrading the transport infrastructure of its cities.