Over 120 million tonnes of cargo transported through Gujarat waterways in past five years

According to data tabled in Lok Sabha earlier this month, in Gujarat, cargo movement through national waterways began in 2017-18 when 11.52 million tonnes of cargo was transported. In 2020-21, the cargo transportation reached 25.72 million tonnes and till February 28, 2022, 26.68 metric tonne had been clocked for financial year 2021-22.

In Gujarat, the bulk of the cargo movement is happening through the Tapi river. Of the 25.72 million metric tonne of cargo transported in 2020-21, 25.6 million metric tonnes was conducted through Tapi and only 82,311 metric tonnes happened through Narmada. From April 2021 to February 2022, Tapi handled 26.5 million metric tonne of cargo while Narmada handled only 36,399 metric tonne.

In handling cargo through waterways, Gujarat stands only second to Maharashtra which transported 178.59 million tonnes of cargo since 2016-17. The other waterways that reported cargo transportation during the since 2016 are Goa Waterways, Sunderban waterways, Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hoogly river system, Brahmaputra river, Kottapuram-Kollam-Champakara and Udyogmandal canals (Kerala) and Krishna river (Andhra Pradesh).

Among the 62 national waterways found economically unviable were National  Waterway 48 which is the Jawai-Luni-Rann of Kutch river system that is part of Gujarat and Rajasthan and the National Waterway 66 on Mahi river.