Bhagalpur: The rapid decline of the Ganga's ecological system has put the fate of proposed 1620-km Haldia-Allahabad inland waterway-I in balance.

Some 29 year backs, the Centre had announced this project and the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) had fixed 2017 as the deadline to complete this project. But the way the Pandawa Cruise, a steamer with foreign tourists got trapped on the riverbed near the Vikramshila bridge has raised questions on the success of the project.

On November 7, the Pandawa Cruise with over a dozen foreign tourists from Calcutta was approaching Bhagalpur when the incident occurred.

"Water level in the main channel of the river near Vikrsmshila bridge has been gradually decreasing and presently it hardly has a depth of 1m. Plying of any big vessel is very risky and almost impossible as it is below the navigation level," said a crew member of the cruise. The tourists were somehow rescued by IWAI officials who rushed from Sahebganj (Jharkhand) and sent the tourist to Munger by road. Last year, the office of the deputy director of the department, was shifted from Bhagalpur to Sahebganj.

An official of IWAI said from the second week of October 2017, silt dazing was started in the main channel of the river to divert water flow towards the northern bank of river, that is towards Barari Ghat at Bhagalpur city where the harbour of IWAI is situated. But nothing was apparently possible as the water level was not raised at the Barai Ghat areas of the river.

To promote tourism, the Pandawa Cruise plies twice a month from October to March. During the journey from Calcutta to Munger, tourists visit places having historical importance. At Bhagalpur, they prefer to visit half-excavated ruins of Vikramshila or Ajgaiybeenath temple at Sultanganj.

The Bihar School of Yoga at Munger is the final destination of the foreign tourists. On October 26, a cruise was trapped in the downstream of the river. "The vessel was trapped in the arch of the bridge and after long procedure, the cruise somehow proceeded toward Sahebganj," said an IWAI officer.

"After the incident, no steamer owner would dare to proceed towards Munger from Bhagalpur," said boat men at the diara here. Deputy director, IWAI, Sahebganj, Prasant Kumar said the process to remove the silt was on and they hope to restore the inland waterways service soon.

The boatmen, however, said dazing in some areas will not provide a solution unless the water level in the riverbed does not increase. IAWI sources said the depth and the width of the riverbed has been maintained by dazing. He said the depth of the river should 2.5m while the width of the water level on the riverbed should be at least 40m. But near the Vikramshila bridge, both the width and the depth are gradually decreasing.

Vijay, a social activist and an expert in Ganga affairs, said the situation was alarming as a river like Ganga is gradually dying due to construction of high dams and pollution.