Source: PIB & Kolkata Port Trust
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi attended the 150th anniversary celebration of Kolkata Port Trust in Kolkata on 11th January. On the occasion, He launched the Interactive Light & Sound Show of Rabindra Setu (Howrah Bridge) in Kolkata. During the celebration, Prime Minister renamed the Kolkata port after Dr, Shyam Prasad Mukherjee and he also launched multi-model development projects for Kolkata Port
About Kolkata Port Trust
- Kolkata is the earliest major port in the country. But the nucleus of the present-day Kolkata Port lies much earlier – with the grant of trading rights to the British Settlement in Eastern India by the Moghal Emperor Aurangzeb. The city of Kolkata has a synergistic linkage with the port.
- In the course of time, the power to rule this vast country passed from the East India Company to the British Crown. The affairs of the Port were brought under the administrative control of the Government with the appointment of a Port Commission in 1870.
- The Kolkata Port was initially conceived to promote and protect the British colonial interest.
- But with the advent of freedom in 1947, the Port was called upon to champion the national cause. The Port took over the responsibility in the wake of the aftermath of the Second World War and the partition of the country.
- At one end at Kidderpore, it has the lowest draft and the other end at Sandheads, it has the deepest draft (more than 50 meters) amongst Indian and world ports. What was described as “one of the best and most convenient ports out of Europe” by the Lt. Governor of Bengal in 1877, still retains a pre-eminent position among the nation’s ports on the strength of its infinite variety of availability of draft throughout 232 km long navigable channel.
- It has two dock systems – Kolkata Dock System at Kolkata with the oil wharves at Baj Baj and Haldia Dock Complex at Haldia – have a combination of facilities with a lot of attractive packages.
About Rabindra Setu
- Rabindra Setu was commissioned in 1943. 75 year anniversary of Rabindra Setu was celebrated last year.
- It is an engineering marvel as it does not have nuts and bolts, but was formed by riveting the whole structure.
- The bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the two cities of Howrah and Kolkata
- In 1956 it was renamed Rabindra Setu after the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate
