National Waterways Bill, 2015 Passed by Parliament

The National Waterways Bill, 2015 has been passed by the Parliament to clear surfaces for the conversion of 106 rivers and creeks across India into transport waterways. Earlier in December 2015 it was passed in Lok Sabha in the winter session and well ahead was passed by Rajya Sabha in March 2016 in the budget session.

Key facts:

  • Currently five national waterways are exists in India and with The National Waterways Bill, 2015 additional 106 inland waterways will introduce.
  • With this the existing five Acts will also replace by it which was declare the existing 5 national waterways.
  • And these existing five national waterways are also covered under the new Bill so total number of waterways number will go up to 111 from existing five national waterways

Inland waterways mainly include

  • Rivers
  • Lakes
  • Canals
  • Creeks
  • Backwaters

It will cover about 14,500 km across the country.

But probability of this mode of transport has not been fully dejected before.

Existing waterways are:

  • Allahabad-Haldia
  • Sadiya-Dhubri
  • Kollam-Kottapuram
  • Kakinada-Pondicherry
  • Talcher-Dharma

Examrace Team at Aug 20, 2021