Report by Kishor Dash; Bhubaneswar: The much awaited the Roll on – Roll off (Ro-Ro) vessel passenger ferry services across the river Saveri in Motu , some 100 km from Malkangiri district headquarters town has finally become operational on Saturday. Built on an estimated cost of Rs.25 lakhs, the Malyabanta ferry, services, said to be first of its kind in the region was launched by Collector K. Sudarshan Chakravarthy and local MLA Manas Madkami jointly in the Saveri river bank today.ITDA Project Administrator RK. Gond was also present on the occasion. Collector K. Sudarshan Chakravarthy along with other officials travelled in the ferry to mark the launching of the ferry service.
With a length of 10 meter,1.2 meter height and 8 tonne wheeled cargo capacity, it can carry two vehicles with passengers , the district administration sources The ferry will carry the cargo along with passengers in water ways from Motu to Bhadranchalam and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
The vessels works like a floating bridge, with Ramps at both ends. The most important feature of the vessel is that the vehicles drive in and drive out on first in – first out basis i.e no need to reverse the vehicles during loading of the vessel which drastically reduces loading/ unloading time. Hence special driving skills are not required for vehicle drivers to load the vehicles into the vessels.
Bilge safety alarms in all compartments are provided to detect flooding even in closed compartments. Fire alarm systems are provided for engine rooms. Apart from this ,safety tips and alarms of the engine and thruster are displayed in the wheel house and echo sounder is also provided to know the depth of water.
With the RoRo services has become operational, it will now reduce the travelling time of the passengers to Bhadranchalam and Hyderabad and many other places in Andhra Pradesh and Chhatisgarh who are being compelled to travel on road via Sukma due to absence of a bridge over river Saveri at Motu, Malkangiri District Collector K. Sudarshan Chakravarthy said to OD. Mean while ,work on building the on-shore and off-shore terminals in Motu river is on full swing, the district administration sources said.
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