Top 5 Operational National Waterways in India
There are 111 officially notified Inland National Waterways (NWs) in India, Out of the 111 National Waterways (NWs) declared under the National Waterways Act, 2016, 13 NWs are operational for shipping and navigation, Details of top 5 operational National Waterways in India are as follows:
NW-1: Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River System (Haldia – Prayagraj)
- Prayagraj–Haldia stretch of the Ganges–Bhagirathi–Hooghly river system.
- Estd = October 1986 Length = 1,620 km (1,010 mi)
- Fixed terminals = Haldia, Kolkata, Sahibganj, Farrakka and Patna.
- Floating terminals = Haldia, Kolkata, Diamond Harbour… and Prayagraj
- Cargo Movement = 4 million tonnes
The Ganga – Bhagirathi – Hooghly river system between Haldia (Sagar) and Allahabad (1620 km) was declared as National Waterway-1.
NW-2: Brahmaputra River (Dhubri – Sadiya)
The river Brahmaputra having a length of 891 Km between Bangladesh Border and Sadiya was declared as National Waterway no. 2 (NW-2) on 1st September, 1988. IWAI is carrying out various developmental works on the waterway for improving its navigability as laid down in the IWAI act, 1985 (82 of 1985).
NW-3: West Coast Canal (Kottapuram – Kollam)
Kollam-Kottapuram stretch of West Coast Canal and Champakara canal and Udyogmandal canal, The National Waterway 3 mainly passes through the previous Thiruvananthapuram–Shoranur canal.
NW-4: Kakinada to Puducherry
The Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of Canals integrated Bhadrachalam – Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and Wazira Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna (1078 km)
NW-5: Talcher- Dhamra And Geonkhali-Charbatia
Length – 588 km.
River portion (371 km)
Canal portion (217 km)
The Talcher- Dhamra stretch of river Brahmani, Geonkhali- Charbatia stretch of East Coast Canal, Charbatia- Dhamra stretch of Matai river and Mangalgadi-Paradip stretch of Mahanadi delta rivers (NW-5, 623 km)
