Odisha has a very efficient drainage system forming vast areas of wetland. But due to inefficient planning, the State is unable to tap the water resources. Still, monsoon plays a key role in deciding the fate of its agriculture and drought is its constant companion.
Over last many years, the State has been facing drought due to failure of monsoon rains. Hence, efficient scientific planning is needed for management of the vast water resource and the wetland.
Each river system should be treated individually and the entire wetland formed by the river within its command areas be managed taking into account its specific need. If such work can be done with perfect planning, the productivity of land can be raised by several folds.
The river Subarnarekha starts from the southern slope of Chota Nagpur plateau of Bihar and after flowing down for a very short length within West Bengal, it forms the interstate boundary of Odisha and West Bengal and then it travels from laxmannath to Jaleswar and joins the Bay of Bengal.
The river travels a very considerable distance within Odisha and also forms very considerable areas of wetland. Now, an irrigation dam cum project is under construction in Mayurbhanj district over the river in the border line of Bihar and Odisha.
At present, one phase operation has been completed to irrigate about 20,000 hectares of fertile land in Mayurbhanj district, but the dam can feed agricultural land of Baleswar district as well.
If a network of canal systems can be built, the river’s water can be used for irrigation in vast areas of cultivable land in Baleswar and Keonjhar districts. Apart from agriculture, the people of the three districts can also be benefitted a lot from fishing and animal rearing for meat and milk. Its vast grassy land can be used for grazing.
The Subarnarekha can be joined with rivers like Baitarani and Samakoi, which flow from Keonjhar plateau and join the Bay of Bengal. The Samakoi river is a tributary of Baitarani. If these rivers are systematically joined in a network, it can boost the economy of Keonjhar, Baleswar and Bhadrak districts.
The economic condition of the people of the region generally is bad. Mineral exploration has devastated its forests. The environment has been polluted and the quality of life has gone low. There are vast field for cultivation of potato and onion, besides the main crop paddy in the northern districts.
Similarly, there are sea– based areas like Balaramgudi of Chandipur in Baleswar, Dhamara and Chandbali of Bhadrak which have beautiful potential for navigation, harvesting of sea fish and cultivation of prawns and shrimps for local use and export. Again, the river Subarnarekha and Baitarani can be beautiful voyage route for transportation of goods from Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Baleswar to Dhamara port.
If the route can be developed as a permanent water transport highway, it would also come a long way in promoting the business activities in the area. The total length of Baitarani is 344 km and average slope of the river is 26 metre per km. So the speed of the stream is favourable for transportation of goods.
Similarly, Bramhani originates from the southern slopes of Chhota Nagpur valley. It enters into Odisha from Sundergarh district. The catchment area of the river in total comes to 1, 40,716 sq km in Chhatisgarh and 75,136 sq km in Odisha.
The stream has two main tributaries like Sankha and Koel and eight branch rivers like Gohir, Tikara, Singada, Mandia, Kural, Mankada, Samakoi and Ramila.
The river Samakoi is also fed through several water channels arising from the Keonjhar plateau and connects Brahmani, Baitarani and Khandadhar water bodies. If Brahmani is connected with Subarnrekha, it would also do wonder.
The total length of Bramhani is 701 km. Its delta starts from Jenapur of Cuttack district. The river is split into two distributaries at Jenapur which are known as Kharasuan and Brahman. Here a mega wetland has been formed but it is yet to be properly tapped.
The length of Karasuan is 149 km, which travels within coastal plains of the State. The right bank distributaries of the river join Birupa and Mahanadi river respectively. The wheeler island is formed through the outlets of these rivers in the Bay of Bengal.
Recently, the stream route of Bramhani has been declared as National waterway no. 5. It will be completed within 5 years and `2,000 crore will be spent to complete it. A MoU has been signed for the project.
The waterway can facilitate transportation for industrial hubs like Talcher, Kaling Nagar (Jajpur), Dhamara and Paradip. The project will be completed within June, 2017.
The transport of materials through the river route will reduce the load on road and rail. It would also reduce pollution of air and land, besides being cost effective.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no. 9937460649)