VOLUMINOUS RIVER - VAITARANI RIVER

 

The Baitarani (also spelled Vaitarani) is one of six major rivers of Odisha, India. Venerated in popular epics and legends, the Baitarani River is a source of water for agricultural irrigation. Most of the potentially arable land in the area is not under cultivation. The coastal plain of Odisha has the name of "Hexadeltaic region" or the "Gift of Six Rivers". These deltas divide the coastal plain into three regions from north to south. The Baitarani, the Mahanadi and the Brahmani rivers form the Middle Coastal Plain, with evidence of past "back bays" and present lakes.

The Baitarani originates from the Gonasika/Guptaganga (Cow Nose Shaped) hills, and starts flowing over a stone looking like the nostril of a cow. Afterwards for about half a kilometre the river flows underground and is not visible from outside. The Baitarani is known here by the name Guptaganga or the Gupta Baitarani, in Gonasika of Keonjhar district in Odisha state of India at an elevation of 900 metres (3,000 ft) above sea level. The uppermost part of the river, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) in length, flows in a northerly direction; then it changes its path suddenly by 90 degrees and flows eastward. The beginning portion of Baitarani acts as the small part of boundary between the states of Odisha and Jharkhand.

The river enters a plain at Anandapur and creates a deltaic zone at Akhuapada. The river travels a distance of 360 kilometres (220 mi) to drain into the Bay of Bengal after joining of the Brahmani at Dhamra mouth near Chandabali. The river has 65 tributaries, of which 35 join from the left side and 30 join from the right side. The river basin in Odisha is spread among 42 blocks of eight districts. Budhi, Kanjori, Ambajhara, Mushal, Kusei, Salandi are some of the tributaries of Baitarani.

A major portion of the river basin lies within the state of Odisha, while a small patch of the upper reach lies in Jharkhand state. The upper Baitarani basin on the western slopes of the Eastern Ghats, comprising the Panposh-Keonjhar-Pallahara plateau, is one of the two plateaus forming "The Central Plateaus"—one of Odisha's five major morphological regions.

Dams and barrages on the Baitarani and its major tributary, the Salandi, irrigate 61,920 hectares (153,000 acres). The proposed Bhimkund and upper Baitarani multi-purpose projects envisage many more dams across this river and its tributaries to provide irrigation to more than 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi). A new barrage was established near Anandapur and it was inaugurated by the CM of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik.

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