SITE VISIT REPORT ON RIVER BARAK

(NW-16)
A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
Internship Completion Certificate
by

KAKI VENKATARAMANA
Under the guidance of

Sh. SANJEEV KUMAR

(Assistant Director-Silchar, IWAI, Assam)

Site Visit: 26th October 2018 to 31st October 2018

NORTH-EAST REGION CELL

INLAND WATERWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF SHIPPING, GOVT. OF INDIA
NOIDA, 201301
ND
02 NOVMBER 2018
 INTRODUCTION ABOUT RIVER BARAK (NW-16)

Barak river system is the second largest river system in the North Eastern Region. It originates
from south of Kohima in Nagaland near Nagaland – Manipur Border. After traversing through
Nagaland, Manipur and Assam, it splits at Bhanga into two streams called Surma and Kushiyara.
There two streams region at Markuli in Bangladesh and thereafter the river is called Meghna.
Barak – Meghna river system has a total length of 900 km (origin to upstream Chandpur in
Bangladesh). Out of this, 524km is in India, 31 km on Indo – Bangladesh border and the rest is in
Bangladesh. Out of 524 km in India, 403 km u/s of Lakhipur is in the hilly terrain and it is not
navigable. Thus the navigable portion of Barak River in India remains only 121km as shown in
Fig:

The Barak river has been used as waterway route for North – East Region since long time.
Regular cargo transportation between Kolkata / Haldia ports in West Bengal and
Karimganj/Badarpur terminals on Barak river in Assam used to take place till eighties and
nineties. Even now some barges do play in this route. The Kolkata – Karimganj route is already a
part of the Indo – Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transport transit and trade.

Barak River (Lakhipur – Bhanga) lies entirely in the state of Assam, the development of Inland
Water Transport (IWT) mode on this stretch will also serve the transportation needs of Manipur,
Mizoram and Tripura. The national Highways-53 connects Lakhipur and Imphal, while NH-54
connects it with Aizwal and NH-44 connects Karimganj and Agartala. Thus development of river
Barak shall provide an alternate connectivity to these states with rest of India. At the moment,
transport service in these states is rendered mainly by road and rail. The goods are transported
with extreme difficulty/ delay due to traffic congestion and longer routes. The waterway has a
distance advantage over rail and road modes. Thus, development of the navigable stretch of
Barak River shall therefore provide vital alternate mode of transport to the navigable stretch of
Barak river shall therefore provide vital alternate mode of transport to the region. It shall also
provide port connectivity to a vast area of North – East through the existing Indo – Bangladesh
IWT & Trade Protocol Routes.

DETAILS OF THE RIVER:

• Class-IV River, declared by IWAI.

• Width of the river 40m, at bends 60m.

• Slope of the river 1:5.

• It is an alluvial river with mud to fine sand.

 OBJECTIVE OF SITE VISIT

The objectives of the River Barak (NW-16) site visit were therefore to know and learn the
Hydrographic Survey, Dredging operations and Terminals on the River Barak. During the site
visit, Officer In-Charge reviewed the following items: Hydrographic Survey, Environmental
aspects, Site conditions of the river Barak. This site visit focused upon the following parameters:

1. General Observations
2. Water level with corresponding Temporary Bench mark
3. Participating in check survey along with Contractor
4. Visiting the Terminals in different locations on the River Barak.
5. Checking of Material Quality along with Officer In-Charge
6. Visiting of Dredging Site
7. Visiting of Dredge material disposal area.
8. Found out the problems in Dredge material disposing.
9. Participating in meeting with Local ADC for material deposing matters along with
Assistant Director
10. Checking the Hydrography charts and dredged quantity calculations along with Officer
In-Charge.
 OBSERVATIONS DURING SITE VISIT

Day-1: On Friday October 26th, 2018, visited the site on Barak River at the location of Rajnagar
along with IWAI Assistant Director, Silchar and checked field survey for transfer of level for water
level reading from the TBM by using Auto level instrument for check survey.

On same day participated in the check survey which was carrying out by contractor and learn the
hydrographic survey procedure for dredging. During this survey, team has explained about the
instruments used for the hydrographic survey, calibration of the instrument before start of depth
measurement at different depths of 2m to 5m, recording the data by using echo sounder, AHS
System, GPS etc. and followed by check survey for a length of 500m.
Day-2: On Saturday October 27th, 2018, visited the Terminal at Badarpur on Barak River, along
with IWAI Assistant Director, Silchar inspected the terminal infrastructure and checked the quality of
material using for the construction of Navigational aids in river bank.

On same day afternoon, site visit to dredging operations and disposal of dredged material on at beside
of River Barak by the K4 Dredger. It has been observed that the optimization of dredging process
according to the required depth of cutting and head pressure, cutter pressure for material in this river
and Pump pressures etc.
After the observation of the dredging operations on the river Barak, visited nearby dredging
disposal site. It has been observed that the precautions and safety measurements taken by the
Officer In-Charge and contractor for disposing of dredged material without causing any
disturbance to local living areas and agricultural lands. It has been observed that, this bank
disposal is achieved by pumping the dredged material directly to the disposal site. Bank disposal
inevitably has some environmental impact but, here it is well designed and executed by Officer
In-Charge so that it can provide long-term economic benefits even if the Engineering properties
of the material are poor. For example, if some shoals having clay content more it may ultimately
provide valuable agricultural or recreational land. If shoals bed having sand, then these are used
for land filling and construction material etc.
Day-3: On Sunday October 28th, 2018, Karimganj on Barak River, along with IWAI Assistant
Director, Silchar inspected the terminal infrastructure and office premises on river bank.

On same day afternoon, participated in checking of Hydrography charts of Stretch-B, Shoal-5

and 6 and dredge quantity calculations which are submitted by the contractor along with Officer
In-Charge.

Day-4: On Monday October 29th, 2018, visited the Multi-model Terminal location at Ranighat, on
the river Barak. It has been observed that the land premises and topographical facilities requirement
for developing the Multi-Model terminal at Ranighat.

On same day evening, visited the area for Dyke Preparation by Contractor at the location near to
River Barak along with Officer In-Charge. The main considerations and taking precautions and
safety measurements for Dyke preparation for dredged material disposal are explained by Officer
In-Charge.

Day-5: On Tuesday October 30th, 2018, Before visiting the several Navigational aids casting sites
on the bank of River Barak, Officer In-Charge reviewed the codes, regulations, dimensions of
navigational aids to be constructed, and different technical specifications for RCC structure
construction. While inspecting the navigational aids constructing locations along with Officer In-
Charge it has been noted that, the foundation height of the navigational aids is less than design
constructed by contractor. Officer In-Charge has been removed the constructed foundation of
navigational aid and instructed to contractor for the new construction of structure for
navigational aid at same location.

Day-6: On Wednesday October 31th, 2018, participated in Post Dredging Survey of Shoal-4 along
with Office In-Charge. It has been nearly 500m post dredged survey which is done by K10 CSD
dredger. On the instruction of Officer In-Charge, initially checked the water level corrections it has
been observed that 2.337m at bench mark no.08. Checked the calibration of the instrument along with
Officer In-Charge and signed as witness.