As we know now, India has a vast inland waterway network of 14,500 km. Over time, rivers have proven to be efficient and effective in carrying cargo over long distances. Even today, many countries rely heavily on inland waterways for the transportation of large and bulky goods. Talking about economics, inland waterways are much cheaper, reliable and also less polluting for transporting goods than the more commonly used railways or roads in India. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Despite all of the above, India is yet to successfully develop this economical and eco-friendly mode of transportation. Despite congestion and higher costs, goods in India still travel by road and rail. This also adds more uncertainty and in some or most cases even takes longer, in turn increasing costs. The cost of logistics in India is so high that it accounts for around 18% of the country's GDP. It's not that we have always been dependent on roads and rails, about a hundred years ago the Ganges was a very busy waterway. The advent of the railway and the development of the road network in India caused the disuse of waterways. For all the reasons stated, the Indian government is reviving the Ganges waterway. It is known as National Waterway 1 and will ferry cargo from the eastern seaport of Haldia to Varansi, which is about 1360km inland. It has the potential to emerge as one of the major arteries of North India. The stretch between Calcutta and Delhi covers the most densely populated areas of India. 40% of all goods traded by India come from this area or are destined to end up here. This resource-rich green area generates around 370 million tonnes of goods per year, but only a small fraction: 5 million tonnes travel through waterways. The World Bank is financing the development with a loan of 375 million dollars. The National Waterway 1 capacity increase project is expected to help put in place the necessary infrastructure and services to ensure that NW1 emerges as an efficient transportation artery in this important economic region. Once built, the waterway will be part of the larger multimodal transportation network planned along the river. It would connect with the eastern dedicated rail freight corridor, as well as the area's existing motorway network. This network of water, road and rail connectivity will help industries and manufacturing units in the region seamlessly switch between different modes of transportation while sending their goods to markets in India and abroad. Farmers in the agriculturally rich Gangetic plain will also benefit, as the waterway opens up markets further afield. As the absence of adequate infrastructure such as cargo terminals and jetties has been one of the reasons for the slow development of water transport in the region, the project will help create six multi-modal cargo terminals - at Varanasi, Ghazipur, Kalughat, Sahibgunj, Triveni and Haldia. Apart from this, five new Roll On-Roll Off (RO-RO) crossings at different locations will help trucks and other vehicles move from the road to the river and vice versa. The 6 new cargo terminals have the potential to evolve into thriving logistics hubs, providing jobs for thousands of people in one of the poorest and most populous areas of the country. The project will also be helpful in establishing a ship repair and maintenance facility in Doriganj. In addition to the above, the project will support the modernization of the old Farakka lock, built around 40 years ago.Currently ships often have to wait up to six hours to pass through the lock; nor is two-way traffic possible through its narrow gates. To facilitate faster and smoother passage of boats through the passage, the lock will not only be improved, but a new lock will also be built, allowing barges to travel both upstream and downstream at the same time. These small improvements will dramatically reduce the time it takes to get through the lock. Furthermore, the project will help create a state-of-the-art River Information System (RIS). Among many benefits, RIS will allow barge operators and cargo owners to monitor their vessels, locate terminal berths in advance and better plan logistics. To make navigation safe both day and night, the project will help to delimit the central canal where boats can transit and install structures for night navigation. Furthermore, detailed protocols are being developed to deal with emergencies, including to deal with oil spills from boats. Since the Ganges River occupies a special place in the social, cultural and environmental landscape of the country, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has tried to adopt the least invasive methods to make the river navigable. Therefore he followed the principle of "working with nature" while designing the Ganga waterway. Unlike many of the world's major waterways, the Ganges is a seasonal river that swells with monsoon rains and retreats in dry winters and summers. While small boats can navigate this seasonal river, large cargo barges require a minimum depth to navigate. Navigation on the Ganges was therefore limited by the varying depths of water found in the river. Currently, traffic is largely limited to the downstream stretch of the river between Farakka and Haldia, where the water is deep enough - 2.5 to 3.0 m - to allow boats to navigate year-round. Typically, making such a river navigable would require large-scale dredging of the riverbed to reach the depth needed for larger vessels, particularly large barges carrying up to 2,000 tons of cargo. In the Ganges, special care has been taken to accommodate such vessels while keeping the need for dredging to a minimum. A 45 meter wide channel was marked in the deepest part of the river and the minimum available depth (LAD) required for navigation was determined keeping in mind the need to reduce dredging. The depth of the channel therefore follows the natural slope of the river in different sections and is sufficient to support the bidirectional movement of large boats. These measures will help reduce the need for dredging to just 1.5% of the river's annual silt load of 10-11 million. cubic meters. Even this limited dredging will only be carried out when absolutely necessary and again using modern, less invasive technologies. Among these technologies is the proposed water injection method that will use water pressure to liquefy silt deposits and wash them away. the resulting thick slurry will then be deposited, naturally or through induced currents, in depressions along the riverbed, ensuring that the sediments remain within the river's ecosystem. Where large banks and islands exist, temporary structures made of natural materials such as bamboo will be erected. channel the flow of water. These temporary structures – or “bandals”, as they are known – will be specially erected near the aquatic sanctuaries to protect the Ganges' diverse fauna. The contracts