Anyone who has travelled even a minor distance in Kerala will quickly realise the importance of inland waterways for the State's economy and culture.
Not only are they the lifeline for the people who live along the backwaters, they are also the focal point for the thriving tourism industry that has grown up by utilising the natural charms offered by Kerala's inland waterway system.
Once, the inland waterways were the mainstay of trade as well, with kettuvallams laden with rice and other goods traversing the stretches of backwaters, especially in the Kuttanad area, then the rich rice bowl of Kerala.
Today the inland waterway system is in a state of disuse and neglect. This is a pity as a recent study by the Thiruvananthapuram-based National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) says that Kerala's inland waterways have the potential to be a low-cost transport option for the State as well as a major source of employment.
Officially, the inland waterways in Kerala stretch to a length of 1,687 km, corresponding to 11.6 percentage of a total of 14,544 km in the country. The major stretch is the West Coast Canal connecting Hosdurg in the north and Poovar, near Thrivananthapuram in the south, which has a length of 560 km.
However, the NATPAC study says Kerala has over 1,800 km of navigable stretches. The sector directly employs between 1.5 lakh and 2 lakh people in the operation and maintenance of boats, and for each person directly employed, at least two others are indirectly employed in allied activities such as boat building, servicing of boats, tourism and so on, the study adds.
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