A total of 111 waterways have been declared as National Waterways under the National Waterways Act, 2016. Out of these 111 NWs, NWs-1, 2 and 3 are operational with cargo and passenger vessels are moving on them. Development works under Phase-I have commenced on NW-4 in 2017.

4382 km of inland waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs), as per details given below: (i) Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km) in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal as NW-1, declared in 1986.