Baitarani River
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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. more...........
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. link titlePratyaya Jagannath
