The Baitarani is one of six major rivers
of Orissa, which lends its coastal plain
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,
along with the Mahanadi and the Brahmani
forms the Middle Coastal Plain, which
bears evidences of past 'back bays' and
present lakes.
It originates from Guptaganga
hills in Gonasika of Keonjhar district in
Orissa state of India at an elevation of
900m above MSL. The upper most part of the
river of about 80 km length flow in northerly
direction then it changes its path suddenly
by 900 and flow east ward. The beginning
portion of Baitarani acts as the boundary
between Orissa and Jharakhand.
The river enters plain
at Anandpur and creates a deltaic zone at
Akhuapada. The river travels a distance
of 360 km to drain to the Bay of Bengal
after joining of the Brahmani at Dhamra
mouth near Chandabali. The river has in
total 65 numbers of tributaries out of which
35 nos. join in left side and rest join
in the right side. The river basin in Orissa
is spread in 42 blocks of eight districts.
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Major portion of its basin
lies within the state of Orissa and small
patch of the upper reach lies in the Jharkhand
state. The upper Baitarani basin in western
slopes of the Eastern Ghats consisting of
the Panposh-Keonjhar-Pallahara plateau is
one of the two plateaus forming ‘The
Central Plateaus’ - one of Orissa’s
five major morphological regions.
Dams and barrages on the
Baitarani and its major tributary, the Salandi
irrigate 61,920 ha. 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 100,000 ha.
Flood is a regular phenomenon
in the Baitarani basin and its inhabitants
live with constant fears of loss to life
and property. Even a two-day rain in July
in 2005 made it overflowed its banks affecting
140,000 people in 220 villages of Jajpur
and Bhadrak districts. There are also at
least two other cases embankment breaching
and marooning during this year inflicting
massive loss to life and property . Apart
from the long pending construction of dam
at Bhimkund and proposed other measures
like river bed excavation and construction
of embankments etc. in the deltaic region,
there remain an unaddressed needs of land
use issues in the upstream, on which, till
date, no serious thoughts or efforts have
not been directed.
Baitarani basin with its rich mineral and
agricultural sources and with availability
of cheap labour, offered ideal ground for
establishment and operation of various industrial
units, however consequent principal activities
in industrial, agricultural and mining sectors
contributed significantly towards deterioration
in the water quality.
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