Waterways transport in Kerala

Waterways have always been an important mode of transport in Kerala. The total length of navigable route in Kerala was 1,900 kilometres and the navigable rivers constitute about 54 per cent of the waterways. The 41 West-flowing rivers together with the backwaters are an integrated part of the inland navigation system in Kerala.[1] In Kerala water transportation through these channels are mainly small distant passenger services, informal country boats,freight transportation to PSU's such as Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore, Kochi etc.

The State's inland waterways pass through highly populated regions - the grand yet to completed discontinuous West Coast Canal (WCC). The majority of those inhabiting the region were engaged in traditional industries such as coir, cashew, brick-making and fishing. Any attempt to develop the inland waterways will favourably impact the well-being of these people. Also along with the Thiruvananthapuram–Kasargode Semi High Speed Rail Corridor and National Highway 66 Kanyakumari to Mumbai (Trivandrum - Kasaragod stretch in Kerala) WCC will complete a network of multimodal north south corridor across Kerala.

In pre-independence era especially transportation across Kerala was mainly through boats. Road networks in state were quite insufficient. Howevere later when roadways and railways started to develop the importance of waterways started to diminish. In later part of 20th century the past glory of waterways had in 18th and 19th century depleted rapidly. However, in 21st century there started to get a renewed emphasis on waterways of state. In 2005 the then President of India Shri. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam presented a 10-point development agenda aimed at making the State an economic powerhouse by 2015.In this he mentioned strongly about the potential of water ways of Kerala.[2]

Major Waterways of Kerala

Almost all the major water way systems in Kerala are part of the West Coast canal system (WCC). This canal system is a mix of backwaters, river streams and man-made canal systems. Few significant navigable stretch in this grand system (some of which are in dilapidated situation currently) are as follows,

West Coast Canal System (WCC).

WCC is the arterial inland waterway of the State, which is being developed to the standard of a National Waterway. This is a is ₹2,300-crore rupees project that is intended to make the entire 633 km long water ways along Kerala coast from Kovalam (Thiruvananthapuram district) to Bekal (Kasaragod district) fully navigable and connect the three major international airports of Kerala such as Trivandrum International Airport, Cochin International Airport and Kannur International Airport through waterways by May 2020. The project was handled by Kerala Waterways and Infrastructure Development Ltd., the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up on Oct 2017 for the timely development of inland waterways. The Government of Kerala and CIAL have stakes in it. The SPV is entrusted with duties such as cross structure construction, dredging, widening and cleaning the waterways. Their first project was rejuvenation of the 18 km Akkulam - Kovalam stretch of Parvathi Puthannaar in Trivandrum awarded to them on May 2018.[8] The National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, in its techno-economic feasibility study, said 16.6 per cent of the total goods traffic by road could be diverted to the inland water transport system once WCC is completed.[9] The various stretches of WCC from South to North of Kerala are as follows,

Canals and Waterways of Alappuzha

Alappuzha is called the Venice of the East. Now other town in Kerala must have relied on waterways and canals as much as Alappuzha does. The water way system in Alappuzha developed because of architect of the city Raja Kesavadas in 18th century. The major canals and waterways in Alappuzha town and adjoining areas are,

  • AS Canal
  • Vada canal
  • Link Canal
  • Commercial Canal
  • Kottaram Thodu
  • Kappirithode

Ferry

Water transportation also exists as numerous small ferry (kadathu in local dialect) at various parts of the state mainly on rivers. This facilitate to cross from one shore to other where bridges are absent. It is cost effective and can be established even at higher reaches of river which are normally not having formal navigation facilities.

There are also big ferries that facilitate even vehicles to cross the channel. Some important ones in state are,

Significance

Traffic

Kerala State Water Transport Department

The SWTD - State Water Transport Department transports about 150 lakhs of passengers per annum using wooden/steel and fibre Glass Passenger Boats. Approximately 40,000 people use their service every day. It operates vehicle carrier (Two-wheeler) boats in ferry services. The operating distance per day is 700 km approximately.

  • The State Water Transport Department of Kerala (SWTD), has passenger boat services in following districts,
    • Kollam (Ashtamudi Lake)
    • Alappuzha (Kayamkulam Lake, Vembanad Lake)
    • Kottayam (Vembanad Lake)
    • Ernakulam (Vembanad lake, Champakara Canal and Udyogmandal Canal )
    • Kannur (Valapattanam River)
    • Kasaragod (Valiyaparamba backwaters)

Freight Traffic

Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore runs barges through Champakkara Canal in Kochi to transport materials between Ambalamedu and Kochi Port.

Tourism

Numerous Tourist Boats and Kettuvallam (Houseboats) of Kerala are found near Kollam, Alappuzha, Kumarakom, Kochi and Valiyaparamba in North Malabar.

Major Accidents[14]
  • 1924 Pallana Boat Accident in Alappuzha, Mahakavi Kumaran Asan and 23 others got killed.
  • 1980 Kannamaali Accident in Ernakulam, 29 people got killed.
  • 1983 Vallarpadam Accident, 18 got killed.
  • 1990 Peppara Dam Accident, 7 got killed.
  • 1991 Punnamada Accident, three lost life.
  • 1994 Vellayikkode boat accident, Kozhikkode, six got killed.
  • 1997 Aluva Accident,4 killed
  • 2002 Kumarakom Boat Accident, 29 got killed.
  • 2007 Thattekad Accident, 18 got killed.
  • 2009 Thekkady boat disaster, 31 got killed.
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See also

References
  1. "Kerala's inland waterways - The right route to development". @businessline. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  2. "Kalam had a vision for Kerala". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 2015-07-29. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-15.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Reporter, Staff (2019-02-07). "Renovation of canals begins in Alappuzha". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  4. Jun 2, TNN |; 2017; Ist, 21:51. "Residents seek to revive Alappuzha-Cherthala canal | Kochi News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-04-23.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. "Four National Waterways for State notified". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 2016-07-26. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-15.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. "Kottayam canals await uplift before National Waterways tag". OnManorama. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  7. "Promoting Inland Waterways in The Country". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  8. "KWIL on Parvathi Puthanar trail". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  9. "Nod for two bridges across Vadakara-Mahe canal". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 2013-12-31. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-15.CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. "Vadakara-Mahe Canal gets technical approval". www.projectstoday.com. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  11. Radhakrishnan, S. Anil (2019-03-03). "Artificial canals in Kerala to fill gaps in National Waterway". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  12. "₹600 crore to kick-start land acquisition for inland navigation canal". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 2019-01-31. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-15.CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. "Chootad Beach in Kannur | Unexplored destinations in Malabar". www.keralatourism.org. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  14. "ബോട്ടപകടത്തിലെ ആദ്യ രക്തസാക്ഷി കുമാരനാശാൻ; 1924ൽ പല്ലനയിൽ പൊലിഞ്ഞത് 24 ജീവൻ; തേക്കടി ..." www.marunadanmalayali.com. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
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