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RAS question

In January 2026, PM Modi launched ₹830 crore port, rail and inland waterways projects at Singur, West Bengal. What is the cargo handling capacity of the Balagarh IWT terminal being built?

Correct answer: (C) 2.7 MT/year.

The Balagarh Inland Water Transport terminal is being built with an envisaged cargo handling capacity of about 2.7 MTPA.

  1. (A)

    5 MT/year

  2. (B)

    1.5 MT/year

  3. (C)

    2.7 MT/year

  4. (D)

    4 MT/year

Explanation

At Singur in Hooghly, the Prime Minister was to inaugurate, lay the foundation stone for and flag off development projects worth more than Rs 830 crore. The Balagarh item in that package was the Extended Port Gate System, including an Inland Water Transport terminal and a Road Over Bridge. PIB states that Balagarh spans approximately 900 acres and is being developed as a modern cargo handling terminal with an envisaged capacity of about 2.7 MTPA. That is why option C matches the official figure. The same release also links the terminal to two dedicated cargo handling jetties, one for containerised cargo and one for dry bulk cargo, explaining why the capacity figure is central to the project.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) 5 MT/year overstates the capacity; PIB gives the Balagarh terminal's envisaged capacity as about 2.7 MTPA.
  • (B) 1.5 MT/year understates the capacity; the official PIB figure for Balagarh is about 2.7 MTPA.
  • (D) 4 MT/year is not the stated project capacity; the cited release identifies about 2.7 MTPA for the Balagarh cargo terminal.

Concept

This tests infrastructure and connectivity current affairs within governance, especially the ability to connect a named project with its official capacity figure. Such questions recur in RAS because port, rail and inland waterways projects are asked through precise data points rather than broad summaries.

Source

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