Indian Waterways

Mohenjodaro, the site of Indus Valley civilisation had found with a two masted ship. Rig Veda has refernce to ships. Naval expeditions and merchants praying to sea before starting the voyage were common in old times. King Vijaya (56-48 BC) went to Sri Lanka with horses and elephants crossing the sea is depicted in Ajanta fresco.

Under Akbar big ships and boats were built. During Mughal times shipping and internal navigation had a department of its own. According to 15th century traveller, Nicoli Conti, Indian ships were longer than the Italian ones. Kozhikode was the greatest shipbuilding centre and executed even foreign orders.

Inland water system : It provides transport and communication for the common man. The three National waterways are Allahabad-Haldia on Ganga Bhagirath-Hooghly river (1620 km, NW 1), Sadiya-Dhubri Bangladesh border (891 km, NW 2) on Brahmaputra river, Kollam-Kottapuram (168 km), Champakara canal (14 km), Udyogamandal canal (23 km) and stretch of the west coast canal were declared as National Waterways number 3.