Question

Why is inland water transport rarely used?

Answer 1

Inland water transport has the following problems :-

The advent of railways which is a british legacy had a huge impact in the development of waterways in india as it was neglected. The britishers wanted raw materials from inland and wanted to sell their products inland(connected to ports). Railways was ideal for their colonialism which was a blow for the development for waterways. But today the focus has turned towards waterways and conscious efforts are onto explore and expand this mode of transportation.

The Deccan rivers are monsson dependent and hence seasonal. The lack of requisite water flow impedes inland transport.

The deccan topography being a plateau with Crystalline rock base, has numerous waterfalls. This effectively reduces and staggers the possibility of having waterways. Hence dams need to be built for overcome them(dams would have their own pros and cons). On the another extreme, dams cannot be built in the northern plain to maintain a minimum depth, due to the topography.

Exploring the Lock system like the Panama canal would be highly expensive.

A huge chunk of water from the major rivers in India are diverted for irrigation which reduces minimum water flow(this is seen in severe levels of pollution at various river stretched). India being an agricultural nation can't change this fact.

Some amount of infrastructure is required for inland transport in the form of specialized flat bottomed boats for goods transport, ports etc. Continuous maintanence is necessary in the form of silt dredging to have a minimum depth of water. This can add to the cost which might be an impedement. Hence there are infrastructural and technological challenges, along with fiscal constraints.

There could be ecological impact as well with increase in waterway traffic added to the increase in levels of pollution. The cumulative impact of aquatic life can be drastic. There are concerns raised w.r.t the Gangetic Dolphins which is an endangered species. The incidents of oil spills happen world over and such an event will lead to an irreversible ecological disaster.

Building of canals would mean water sources would be diverted to maintain minimum depth for transportation. As water courses are trans-boundary, the issue of inter-state disputes and even international disputes arise. Eg. Cauvery, Mahdeyi, Ganga(farakka barrage), etc.