NATIONAL WATERWAYS

Subject : Economy

Context :The Inland Waterways Authority of India has eased tender terms for privatising the multi-modal cargo terminals at Varanasi, Haldia and Sahibganj on National Waterway 1.

Concept :

• National Waterways Act came into effect in 2016. It proposed 106 additional National Waterways and merges 5 existing Acts which were declared the 5 National Waterways.
• In 1986, the Government of India created the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for regulation and development of Inland Waterways for navigation and shipping.
• Out of the 111, National Waterways declared under the National Waterways Act, 2016, 13 are operational for shipping and navigation and cargo/passenger vessels are moving on them.

Important National Waterways :

• National Waterway-1: Allahabad-Haldia stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river (1620 Km) declared as NW in 1986 in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
• National Waterway-2: Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river (891 Km) declared as NationalWaterway in 1988 in the state of Assam.
• National Waterway-3: Kollam-Kottapuram stretch of West Coast Canal and Champakara and Udyogmandal canals (205 Km) declared as National Waterway in 1993 in the state of Kerala.
• National Waterway-4: Kakinada-Pudducherry stretch of canals and Kaluvelly tank, Bhadrachalam-Rajahmundry stretch of river Godavari and Wazirabad-Vijayawada stretch of river Krishna (1078 Km) declared as National Waterway in 2008 in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry.
• National Waterway-5: Talcher-Dhamra stretch of Rivers, Geonkhali-Charbatia stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia-Dhamra stretch of Matai river and Mahanadi Delta Rivers (588 Km) declared as National Waterway in 2008 in the states of West Bengal and Orissa.

Inland Waterways Authority of India

• It is a statutory body that came into existence on 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation.
• It primarily undertakes projects for development and maintenance of IWT infrastructure on national waterways through grants received from the Ministry of Shipping.
• It is headquartered at Noida with regional offices at Patna (Bihar), Kolkata (West Bengal), Guwahati (Assam) and Kochi (Kerala) and sub-offices at other places throughout India.