National Waterways

National Waterways

Subject : Geography

Section : Economic Geography

Context: To promote inland water transport (IWT) in the country, 111 inland waterways spread over 24 states have been declared as National Waterways (NWs) under National Waterway Act, 2016.

Concept:

Based on the outcome of techno-economic feasibility and Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of these NWs, action plan has been formulated by IWAI for 26 NWs found viable for cargo/passenger movement.

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. It has been undertaken by IWAI with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank at a revised estimated cost of Rs. 4633.84 cr.
• National Waterway-2: Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra River (891 Km) declared as National Waterway 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. The Krishna River (Vijayawada – Muktyala)  over a length of 82 kms, the  stretch of river Krishna between Vijayawada and Galagali is part of declared National Waterway-4. However, no development work on this stretch has been undertaken under Sagarmala scheme.
• 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.