Jaladhara Scheme

What is the Jaladhara Scheme?

Jaladhara Scheme is a scheme of the Transport Department, Government of West Bengal, that extends financial assistance for the replacement or conversion of existing bhutbhutis by safe and secure mechanically propelled boats. The Transport Department announced the scheme in July 2017, and the departmental page carries the rationale along with a detailed guideline document numbered 2926-WT-3W-13-2017.

A note on the name: the word "Jaladhara" appears on several state scheme lists, and it is sometimes confused with drinking water programmes because of the literal meaning. The Jaladhara Scheme described here is a water transport safety scheme, not a water supply scheme. Rural piped drinking water in West Bengal is handled separately by the Public Health Engineering Department.

A bhutbhuti is a country boat with an engine bolted on. These boats carry passengers across the Hooghly, the Ichhamati, the Damodar, the Rupnarayan and dozens of smaller rivers and creeks, and in much of riverine Bengal they are the only link between a village and the nearest town. The problem the Transport Department identified is that bhutbhutis are usually unregistered, they are semi-mechanised craft fitted with engines but without the freeboard, hull strength, life-saving appliances and other safety features that lawful registration requires. Overloading and engine failure on these boats have caused repeated ferry accidents.

Jaladhara Scheme therefore attacks the problem at the level of the boat itself. Rather than only policing overloading, the state pays part of the cost of putting a registrable, mechanically propelled boat on the route in place of the bhutbhuti, so that the ferry service continues and the operator's livelihood is not destroyed.

What the scheme sets out to do

• Replace unsafe and unregistered ferry boats with vessels that meet the standards required for registration.
• Improve safety of passengers using river ferry services in West Bengal.
• Preserve and formalise self-employment for existing ferry operators rather than simply banning their boats.

Who is eligible for the Jaladhara Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are an operator, an individual who operates a public ferry, or who owns an existing bhutbhuti currently in operation providing commercial ferry services on any river in West Bengal.
• Your status as an operator is certified by the Block Development Officer of your block, or by the Municipal Corporation where the route falls in an urban area.
• You agree to comply with the Standard Operating Procedure for safety laid down under the scheme once the new boat is in service.
• You are replacing or converting the boat with a mechanically propelled boat built to a specification that can be registered.

You cannot apply if:

• You do not run a commercial ferry service. Owners of private boats, pleasure craft or boats used only for fishing are not eligible, because the scheme is tied to public ferry operation.
• You cannot obtain the operator certificate from the BDO or Municipal Corporation, since that certificate is the document on which eligibility rests.
• The proposed boat does not meet the safety specification and so could not be registered after construction.
• You are seeking assistance for engine repair, routine maintenance or fuel rather than replacement or conversion of the vessel.

Jaladhara Scheme places no cap on the number of bhutbhutis that can be replaced under it, so an operator running more than one boat is not shut out by a per-person limit. The financial ceiling operates per boat.

How much financial assistance does the Jaladhara Scheme give?

Jaladhara Scheme provides 30 percent of the project cost of the new boat, subject to a maximum of Rs 1,00,000 per boat.

The scheme is built on a three-part funding structure:

The loan leg is optional. An operator who can fund the balance from their own resources need not bring a financier into the arrangement, in which case the financier agreement is simply not filed. Where a loan is taken, the subsidy is structured so that it reduces the amount the operator has to borrow and service.

What documents are required for the Jaladhara Scheme?

How to apply for the Jaladhara Scheme

1. Obtain the operator certificate. Approach your Block Development Officer, or the Municipal Corporation if the ferry route falls in a municipal area, and get a certificate confirming that you operate a public ferry or own a bhutbhuti in current operation.
2. Select the boat builder and sign the agreement. The builder's agreement sets out the specification of the mechanically propelled boat and its cost, and that cost becomes the project cost on which the 30 percent is calculated.
3. Arrange the finance. Agree the down-payment you will make, and if you need a loan for the balance, sign an agreement with the bank or NBFC.
4. Submit the application to the Secretary of the Regional Transport Authority having jurisdiction over your route, attaching the operator certificate, the builder agreement and the financier agreement where applicable.
5. RTA scrutiny. The Regional Transport Authority examines the application and forwards its recommendation.
6. Technical approval by the Inland Water Transport Directorate (IWTD), which checks that the proposed boat meets the safety and design requirements.
7. Final sanction by WBTIDCL — the West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, the state-level nodal agency for the scheme; after which the subsidy is released.
8. Register the new boat and operate it in compliance with the Standard Operating Procedure for safety.

How do you check the status of a Jaladhara application?

Jaladhara Scheme has no online status tracker. Because the file physically moves from the Regional Transport Authority to the Inland Water Transport Directorate and then to WBTIDCL, the practical way to check progress is to quote the RTA acknowledgement to the RTA Secretary's office and ask which of the three stages the file has reached. Keep a copy of every document you filed; operators who submit originals without retaining copies find it hard to reconstruct the file if a paper goes missing between offices.

Why do Jaladhara applications get rejected or delayed?

• No operator certificate, or a certificate from an authority other than the BDO or Municipal Corporation.
• The applicant is not an existing ferry operator, so the basic eligibility test fails.
• Boat specification not registrable. The IWTD refuses technical approval if the design would not clear registration.
• Builder agreement missing or vague on cost, leaving no basis to compute the 30 percent.
• Financier agreement missing where a loan is claimed as part of the funding structure.
• Mismatch between the boat being replaced and the route certified, which raises a question over whether the bhutbhuti is genuinely in operation.

Where do you get help under the Jaladhara Scheme?

• Scheme page: transport.wb.gov.in/jaladhara-scheme, which hosts the guideline document.
• Application and first point of contact: the Secretary, Regional Transport Authority for your district.
• Technical approval: Inland Water Transport Directorate, Government of West Bengal.
• Nodal agency and sanctioning body: West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (WBTIDCL).
• Local certification: your Block Development Officer, or the Municipal Corporation for urban routes.

Applying under the Jaladhara Scheme costs nothing beyond the ordinary cost of the documents. No agent can charge a fee for "getting the subsidy sanctioned", and the subsidy is released through the formal RTA, IWTD and WBTIDCL chain, not by any intermediary.