It is a fact that Odisha has 12 per cent water sources of whole of India but there are only 22 lakh hectares of cultivable land being irrigated out of 62 lakh hectares.
If we go back to the history of irrigation, it will be seen that, the major irrigation system by river water was developed during the period of British regime after the worst ever Naanka Famine, that is after 1865-66. After the foreign yoke was over, no eye catching sustainable use of water resources of Odisha has been made. If we go deep into the matter, it will be seen that, there is no excess water in Odisha to spare for others. Again if we carry out perfect ecological uses of water resources, there will be no surplus water. Hence no sustainable use of river waters of Odisha is ever attempted for socio-economic development.
Rivers of Chhotnagpur plateau of Bihar like the Subarnarekha and the Brahmani are two interstate rivers. Subarnarekha practically forms the State’s boundary with West Bengal. The water of the river does not come to any purpose other than creating flood havocs. Very negligible percentage of water of this river becomes useful for the benefit of the people of Odisha.
The Brahmani has a total length of 71 km out of which 14 km forms the delta areas. It has two tributaries and eight branches, having a total catchment area of 1, 40, 716 sqkm. 65,580 sqkm is in Odisha and the rest is in Bihar State. The Brahmani is the second river after Mahanadi, which practically feeds the northern parts of Odisha, through its distributaries and to some extent the western Odisha through its tributaries.
Rivers of Amarkantak Plateau includes Mahanadi. This is a principal river of Odisha which can be taken as lifeline of the State. It has main 15 tributaries and 33 sub-tributaries. Out of 15 tributaries, Odisha owns only two tributaries and 19 sub-tributaries. But the main stream Mahanadi has 20 branches and sub-branches of river streams with the coastal plains of Odisha, which performs as the granary of Odisha.
The main source of water of the State is Mahanadi, which feeds the western and eastern districts of the State. The principal river system of Odisha forms a network of rivulets cum distributaries of river water within the coastal plains and increases the fertility of soil profiles of the zone. The total length of this river is 8,528 km.
If the water of the river Mahanadi is allowed to flow down to Godavari, what will be the fate of the 20 branches and sub-branches of river streams of this dynamic riverIJ If these distributaries do not get water sufficiently, what will be the fate of the people of coastal plains of Odisha, where the density of population is quite high and nearly 70 per cent of total population of the State liveIJ Moreover, major industries are found within this zone of peninsular Odisha. A civil war is invited by joining Mahanadi with Godavari and Rushikulya through an illogical and unethical attempt. The authorities and the planners of the union should know that the rivers of Odisha are not snow-fed like Ganga, Brahmaputra and Yamuna etc of Himalayan origin. On the contrary, these are rain fed.
All the rivers of Odisha are local and not perennial in nature and are only seasonal. So the river joining works between the rivers within the State should be carried out by taking all dimensions into account. It needs to be done with proper planning and road mapping to make the whole of Odisha fertile and green.
The rivers from the Mahanadi delta have branches and branchlets, numbering 20. They support the life systems of people of this region. Baitarani is a river originating from the Keonjhar plateau. Its total length is 344 km, which meets the Bay of Bengal at Dhamara and it has a number of tributaries. It maintains third position next to Brahmani so far as its importance is concerned. The northern peninsula of Odisha is much benefited by this river. If this can be joined with Subarnrekha and Brahmani, this can shower much of blessings to the agriculturist of north-east region of the State. There are very short distanced tributaries of Baitarani; the water resources of these tributaries can sustainably be used. The major water of the hill range is being discharged to the Bay of Bengal without proper utilisation and scientific management. There is a river stream, called Samakai, which is a feeder tributary of Subarnarekha and its water is not adequately utilised for public purposes.
Rivers of Eastern Slope of Eastern Ghat are the Budhabalanga Salandi and Rushikulya, whose waters are discharged to Bengal Bay without proper management for agricultural practices of respective zones.
Other rivers of Eastern Ghat include Bahuda, Vansadhara, Nagavali, Godavari and Indravati, including Kolab-Saberi. When Nagavali has four feeder streams like Janghavati, Subarnna Khi, Vegabati, and Nagavali, the Kolab-Sabari have two feeder streams like Poteru and Machhakund- Sileru and river Indravati has five feeder streams like Podagada, Kapuru, Muran, Telingir, and Boskel. The water of all these above rivers is major feeder streams of so called National Water Project of Polavaram. Odisha is not going to get a drop of water of Eastern-Ghat region when Eastern-Ghat project like Polavaram will be fully operational in Andhra Pradesh. The planning will create water scarcity in Odisha. There are major 11 tidal rivers in Odisha besides their branches and branchlets, whose existence will be paralysed.
If Mahanadi-Godavari major rivers of Eastern-Ghat will be joined together, the drainage systems of the State will be greatly hampered and large submersible areas will be created in upstream side of the river Mahanadi. Mostly the low lying areas of Boudh, Angul and Narsinghpur will be affected.
The people of Boudh have rightly raised their voices against joining of river Mahanadi with Godavari and construction of dam at Barimula over Mahanadi which will invite submergence of more than 300 revenue villages hitting 15,000 families. Again 9,000 to 10,000 tropical peninsular eco-system will be drowned forever. The Satkoshia is a rich riverine Tiger Project of Odisha, which will lose its existence forever.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)