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Sea and Inland Waterways
There are many rivers and lakes in India. The coast line is also very long
but the immense potential of travelling on water bodies has not been
tapped properly. There are ferry services to near by islands and tourist
destinations close to the main land as Vivekanand Rocks in Tamil Nadu,
Elephanta caves in Mumbai, Sunderban deltas etc. Most famous of the ferry
service is that between Goa and Mumbai. This is about six hours journey
and is perhaps the only one which carries the charm of travelling on sea.
Places like Andaman and Nicobar islands and the Lakshadweep islands can
only be reached by air or by the ships which connect these islands with
the mainland. To reach these places is advisable to take the sea route
than the air services. Travelling by ships and boats is more exciting than
its faster counterparts.
The most of the river in India are not fit for inland water ways due to
the silting and other geographical problems. But there are many rivers
with immense potential for inland water ways which have not been made
popular or to say they have not been harnessed. Small boats carry
commuters to small distances but as such no long distance travel can be
taken up on these rivers. Earlier there was a service from Varanasi to
Patna but this was discontinued. In recent times with the passengers
pressure on trains increasing, roads being in vary bad shape and air
travel becoming too expensive for common man government is planning to
harness the inland water ways.
