Plans to Increase Inland water ways leading to Destruction

1. Manthan Adhyayan Kendra March 2017
National Inland Waterways
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Shripad Dharmadhikary,
Manthan Adhyayan Kendra

2. National Inland Waterways
 Rivers being used as water ways since ages
 Plans to convert many of them to large waterways
carrying big vessels
 Law passed in 2016 designating 111 river
stretches as “National Water way”
 This is 106 new ones in addition to earlier 5
 Represent possibly biggest intervention and
disruption of rivers second only to large dams
Manthan Adhyayan Kendra March 2017

3. Manthan Adhyayan Kendra March 2017

4. National Inland Waterways
 Need to maintain wide channel in
rivers with 2-3 depth
 Large scale dredging in rivers,
estuaries
 Construction of barrages
 River straightening works
 Channelisation of rivers
Manthan Adhyayan Kendra March 2017

5. Manthan Adhyayan Kendra March 2017

6. Impacts
 Destruction of ecology, flora fauna of river
 Loss of livelihoods like fishing
 Erosion of river banks
 Release of contaminants from silt
 Pollution due to cargo like coal (coal dust)
 Pollution due to oil leaks, other pollutants
 Destruction of sensitive ecosystems like estuaries,
delta, Ramsar sites
Manthan Adhyayan Kendra March 2017