Inland waterways of India
India has about 14,500 km of navigable and potentially navigable waterways of which around 55% is used regularly. Inland waterways in India consist of the Ganges (Ganga)–Bhagirathi–Hooghly rivers, the Brahmaputra, the Barak river, the rivers in Goa, the backwaters in Kerala, inland waters in Mumbai and the deltaic regions of the Godavari - Krishna rivers. About 44 million tones of cargo is moved annually through these waterways using mechanized vessels and country boats.[1]
National waterway-1
Allahabad–Haldia stretch of the Ganges–Bhagirathi–Hooghly river of total length 1620 km was declared as National Waterway-1 (NW-1) in the year 1986.
National Waterway-2
Sadiya–Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river of total length 891 km was declared as National Waterway-2 (NW-2) in the year 1988.
National Waterway-3
Kollam–Kottapuram stretch of West Coast Canal and Champakara and Udyogmandal canals of total length 205 km was declared as National Waterway-3 (NW-3) in the year 1993.
National Waterway- 4
Kakinada–Pondicherry stretch of canals and Kaluvelly tank, Bhadrachalam–Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and Wazirabad–Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna of total length 1095 km was declared as National Waterway-4 (NW-4) in the year 2008.
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 of total length 620 km was declared as National Waterway-5 (NW-5) in the year 2008.
National Waterway-6
Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of 121 km of the Barak River is the 6th waterway. It will result in unified development of the waterways for shipping and navigation and transportation of cargo to the North Eastern Region particularly in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. It was accepted as National Waterway in January 2013 by Union Cabinet.[2]