Question

now inland waterways played a limited role. why?​

Answer 1

Transport by inland waterways may be by navigable rivers or those made navigable by canalization (dredging and bank protection) or on artificial waterways called canals. Many inland waterways are multipurpose, providing drainage, irrigation, water supply, and generation of hydroelectric power as well as navigation.

Answer 2

Rivers, lakes, backwater and canals are the  inland waterways. At one time, inland waterways played an important part in the transport system of India. Now they play a limited role due to the development of roads and railways. In India inland waterways mainly carried goods and people along river Ganga, the Brahmaputra and their tributaries in north India. The south Indian rivers are navigable only in  their deltaic course.