First multi-modal terminal faces land, capacity challenges in Varanasi

Last November, the Prime Minister inaugurated the new Multi-Modal Terminal on the Ganges in Varanasi and received the first container cargo via the inland waterway. Since then, only one other cargo container has docked here, and none has departed.

The highway and rail connectivity which form the other ‘modes’ of the terminal are yet to be constructed and connected to the water terminal. The root of the delay is the difficulty in acquiring land.

A government statement in July 2018 said the Rs 169.59- crore Multi-Modal Terminal being built by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was set to be completed by November this year. 

On the ground, however, officials overseeing the project estimate it will take a minimum of two years to be finished. Of the total 200 acres required for the project, 70 per cent has been acquired from farmers. The balance is facing stiff opposition from the locals, some of whom, according to officials, are ‘illegal’ owners.

This includes the land needed for the dock infrastructure and the road connecting the terminal to NH7 and to the railway station. So far, small land parcels have been acquired. What’s left is the large farmland.

“Close to three to four villages fall under it. The land is owned by the benefactors of the Kashi Naresh or Maharaja Vibhuti Narayan Singh who was the last king of Benares. The successors of the families which received the land from him are refusing to give up. Some don’t even have a legal paper to prove that but they are the ones protesting the most,” said a government official. Kashi Fort, once the residence of the Benares royal family, is a stone’s throw away from the water terminal. The land near the fort, including the river side, was given to employees of the royal household. The fort itself is in a dilapidated state with people occupying several parts of it.

“We are offering four times the circle rate to the villagers as compensation to evacuate the land. But the royal landowners want more,” said the official. He added that the family of Gopal Singh, a senior figure in the royal family, is leading the protest. Singh’s family refused to talk.  

Officials are now pinning their hopes on the Land Acquisition Act under which, if they acquire 75 per cent of the required land, they can forcibly acquire the balance. The compensation is given later whenever the displaced people decide to give up their fight, said an official.

The contractor, AFCONS Infrastructure, has close to a dozen executives stationed at the terminal who bar any labourer from talking to the media. IWAI has one senior executive to manage the daily affairs and coordinate with the head office in Noida. None of them agreed to be quoted, calling the project ‘highly sensitive’. The IWAI chairman refused to respond to queries.

Even the water terminal inaugurated by Narendra Modi has only been partially built with the dock yet to be fully prepared to handle large cargo. Sources said one container cargo left without unloading as the dock could not handle the commodity. 

Experts said a depth of 40 metres is needed for a 16 container cargo to park and unload at the dock. At places near Varanasi, the river Ganges is little more than a stream. This is a major concern but officials are confident that the Clean Ganga Mission will improve the flow soon. For the moment, the IWAI maintains the depth artificially through a dredging process.

Officials said that unless mass use of the terminal picks up, the project will be unviable. Some even queried the terminal as a business proposition. Asked which commodities can be loaded from Varanasi, officials expressed uncertainty as the city is neither a manufacturing centre nor an agri-product market.

“At least three to four cargo per month are needed to meet and recover the cost incurred on the terminal. But there is not much loading in Varanasi which means the cargo will have to wait for a week or 10 days. This escalates their cost and reduces the profit of the terminal,” said an official. 

Another official said: “Coal can go from here to Farakka in West Bengal or Barh in UP. There are some cement units here but the cement is mostly consumed locally.” For the coal to come from neighbouring Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction, a rail line is needed. The adjacent Jeonathpur rail line is being extended up to the port and the station is being redeveloped. But work has hardly begun, apart from two alternative rooms for the station master. Work on the line extension started only two weeks ago, according to sources.  

The Varanasi Multi-Modal Terminal is one of six such freight terminals planned for Ghazipur, Kalughat, Sahibgunj, Triveni and Haldia. It is also part of the National Waterway 1 or Jal Marg Vikas Project financed by the World Bank with a loan of $375 million.

The Varanasi terminal will be part of the larger multi-modal transport network being planned along the Ganges, linking it with the Eastern Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor, and the area’s existing network of highways.