Devi River

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An illustration of Mahanadi Koyakhai distributary system in Odisha, India draining into Bay of Bengal and Chilka lake. Picture not drawn to scale Mahanadi-Koyakhai distributray system.jpg
An illustration of Mahanadi Koyakhai distributary system in Odisha, India draining into Bay of Bengal and Chilka lake. Picture not drawn to scale

Devi river is one of the principal distributaries of Mahanadi. It flows through Jagatsinghpur district and Puri district across Odisha state in India and joins Bay of Bengal.

Contents

Course

The river forms the final part of a great network of Mahanadi river. Kathajodi river is the main southern distributary of Mahanadi river branching off at Cuttack, Odisha. [1] Kathajodi river later acquires the name Devi as it flows further east. The river flows through Alipingal, Macchagaon and Naugaon blocks in Jagatsinghpur district and Astaranga and Kakatpur blocks in Puri district. [2] It reaches Bay of Bengal 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of the mouth of Mahanadhi river, a short distance from the border of Cuttack and Puri districts. [3] The mouth of the river is surrounded by dense forests absent of inhabitants. [4]

The river is navigable till Machhagaon by small sloops. It is one of the best tidal channels in Orissa, but, yet big vessels can not enter the river upstream due to a large sediment of sand in the mouth of the river. [5] Two fishermen were killed and two injured when a boat capsized near Astarang in the Devi River on 13 May 1988. [6]

Turtle rookery

The mouth of the Devi river serves as a nesting ground for olive ridley sea turtles during their breeding season. The first rookery in this area north of Puri was discovered in 1981. Nesting occurs on mainland India and dynamic sand bars which appear and change forms from year to year. [7] About 800,000 turtles come to this region every winter for breeding. However, the turtle nesting has declined in recent years due to mass death believed to be brought about by increased mechanised fishing. Over 6,000 olive ridleys were killed in year 2003 alone. According to a 2007 estimate, over 130,000 turtles have been found dead on these beaches over the previous 13 years. [8] [9] The effort to set aside the mouth of Devi River and Rushikulya River as sanctuaries for olive ridley turtles were opposed by local fishing communities. [10]

Water Pollution

Devi_Kandal island people are suffering a lot due to the river water pollution of Devi & Kandal rivers caused due to the surge of huge amount of untreated drain water from Cuttack municipality region. On the other hand, both the rivers are being distributaries of Kathajodi river get very less water supply due to the obstruction of a concrete wall made on the mouth or initial points of both the rivers at Naraj. It is done for keeping more water reserved for industrial houses.

In such a situation lesser water flow largely polluted by nasty drain water of Cuttack city makes the water of both the rivers very poisonous. As a result, one can observe drastic reduction in many species of fishes and other water animals in these rivers. The fisherman community are worst suffering for the reason. Common man, who use the water for bathing, cleaning clothes and agriculture purposes are getting too little water for it and also getting affected by various water borne skin diseases & jaundice etc. The ground water level in the region drastically goes down in summers as it depends upon the level and quantity of water in these rivers.[ citation needed ]

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Odisha, formerly Orissa, is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the third-largest population of Scheduled Tribes in India. It neighbours the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal to the north, Chhattisgarh to the west, and Andhra Pradesh to the south. Odisha has a coastline of 485 kilometres (301 mi) along the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. The region is also known as Utkaḷa and is mentioned by this name in India's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. The language of Odisha is Odia, which is one of the Classical languages of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahanadi</span> River in East Central India

The Mahanadi River is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around 132,100 square kilometres (51,000 sq mi) and has a total length of 900 kilometres (560 mi). Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam which was the first major multipurpose river valley project after India's independence in 1947. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and before finally ending in the Bay of Bengal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brahmani River</span> River in Odisha, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuttack district</span> District in Odisha, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jagatsinghpur district</span> District of Odisha in India

Jagatsinghpur District is one of the thirty districts of Odisha in the eastern coast of India. It became a new district on 1 April 1993 being separated from Cuttack district with its own headquarter in Jagatsinghpur town. Deltaic and partly littoral; the district of Jagatsinghpur is triangular in shape and small in geographical proportions. It is the smallest district in the state and covers a landmass of 1759 km2. It has a history of its own dating back to the 6th century AD, having contemporaneity with the Prachi valley civilization. Its archaeological remains, navigation network, inland and overseas trade, fabric manufacturing & designing, religious tolerance and epoch-making glorious role in freedom struggle; have a savor of distinctiveness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puri district</span> District of Odisha in India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kushabhadra River</span>

Kushabhadra River forms the complex of river systems which form the distributaries of the Mahanadi River. It branches off from the Kuakhai River, which is a distributary of the Mahanadi, at Balianta and flows in a south western direction towards Nimapara and Gop for 46–50 miles before sinking into the Bay of Bengal near Ramachandi Temple, 15 miles east of Puri in the Puri District of Odisha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rushikulya River</span> River in Odisha, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Odisha</span>

Odisha is one of the 28 states in the Republic of India. Odisha is located in the eastern part of the Indian peninsula and the Bay of Bengal lies to its East while Chhattisgarh shares its border in the west and north-west. The state also shares geographic boundaries with West Bengal in the north-east, Jharkhand in the north and Andhra Pradesh in the south. The state is spread over an area of 1,55,707 km2 and extends for 700 km from north to south and 500 kilometres from east to west. Its coastline is 450 km long. The state is divided into 30 districts which are further subdivided into 314

blocks called tahasil.

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References

  1. A History of British India By William Wilson Hunter, Paul Ernest Roberts
  2. "Orissa flood Sitrep" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  3. Manmohan Mohanti. "Mahanadi River Delta, East Coast Of India: An Overview On Evolution And Dynamic Processes" (PDF). Dept. of Geology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-10-29.
  4. Bay of Bengal pilot. Hydrographic Office, Admiralty. 1887. p. 144.
  5. page 13 of Puri By Lewis Sydney Steward O'Malley, Monmohan Chakravarti
  6. Land and people of Indian states and union territories in 36 volumes Volume
  7. A study on industrial growth along coast line of Orissa and its undesirable effect on environment using GIS - an Olive Ridley (sea turtle) perspective
  8. Nesting of Olive Ridleys unlikely along Orissa coast
  9. Hundreds of dead turtles litter Orissa beach [ dead link ]
  10. Indian Affairs Annual 2005 By Mahendra Gaur

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