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The definition of water transport includes all kinds of waterways whether it is on rivers, lakes, streams, seas or oceans. Water transport means using waterways to go from one place to another. Due to length and flexibility, rivers are the most suitable forms of water transport. India has a large network of rivers from north to south and east to west. Some rivers are perennial and some do not flow during the whole year. The catchment areas of rivers give India a golden opportunity to use them as waterways too. Water transport is being used in the world at large scale, now India has started taking significant steps in this zone.
Water Transport
The rivers originating from the Himalayas are mostly perennial in nature that means these can be used for water transportation throughout the year. The major three river systems are the Ganga River system, Indus River system and Brahmaputra River system which can be feasibly used for the purpose of water transportation. India is currently working on more than 30 river linking projects also.
As per the definition of water transport, India has notified 111 official water highways. Currently, India is using just 5 waterways. These days, India is working on the development and construction of more than 5000 km of inland waterways which are navigable in nature. Waterways are not only a very fine option for other transport mediums but also cheaper too. This makes them a good alternative to roadways and railways. The operational cost of the waterways is actually 30% less than the operational cost of railways and 60% lower than the operational cost of roadways. India has already established a separate authority to work in this field known as the Inland Waterways Authority of India or IWAI in 1986. India is currently using and operating just 5 inland waterways namely-
NW1 (National Waterway 1)- it is currently the longest waterway of India located on the river Ganga which extends from Haldia in West Bengal to the Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. It has a length of 1620 km.
NW2- It is located on the river Brahmaputra. Brahmaputra originates in Tibet (China) and goes to Bangladesh via India. This waterway of India begins in Dhubri to Sadiya in the state of Assam.
NW3- It is located on the west coast canal which goes from Kallam to Kottappuram in Kerala and has a length of 205 km.
NW4- It is one of the longest waterways in India covering the distance of 1078 km from Kakinada to Puducherry going through rivers of Godavri and Krishna and some canals too. It stretches in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nādu and Puducherry.
NW5- It is situated on the river of Brahmani, Delta canal and the east coast canal. It extends from Goenkhali to Talcher in the states of Odisha and West Bengal.
The NW6 on the Barak River is just about to get ready for use but it is not operational for now. In the year 2016, India notified the ‘National Waterways Act, 2016’ and added 106 more waterways in the list of 5. As per the definition of water transport, we will be using 111 waterways for navigation in the coming years.
Recently India launched a Motor Vessel Lal Bahadur Shastri which initiated its journey from NW1 in Patna then traveling through NW2, it visited four places in Bangladesh, and came back to Pandu in Guwahati. India has signed ‘Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade’ with Bangladesh. India is highly investing in such projects as they need a lot of money to clean the river bed for safe and smooth sailing of vessels.
Conclusion-
Water transport is a very easily accessible and a sustainable medium of transport which reduces the burden of roads and rails. Some canals like Buckingham canal and Odisha canal are also being used for the navigation purposes. Currently, India’s domestic freight transport is largely using the roadways which accounts for more than 50% and railways more than 30% but the waterways are even less than 1% despite the fact that India has a large number of rivers.
