Odisha Government has started working on Sukapaika River revival plan

Tags: State News

The Odisha Government has started working on the Sukapaika River revival plan following a direction from the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Important facts

• The Sukapaika river which stopped flowing 70 years ago is set to be rejuvenated as the Odisha government starts working on its revival plan.

About Sukapaika River

• It is one of the several distributaries of the mighty Mahanadi river in Odisha.

• The problem began in 1952, when the state government blocked the starting point of Sukapaika with an embankment to protect the surrounding villages from flooding.

• Subsequently, in 1957, two major projects to control floods – Hirakud Dam in Sambalpur district and Naraj Barrage in Cuttack – were constructed upstream on the Mahanadi.

• The river dried up due to the development of the Taldanda Canal System, a major canal in the state.

• It rises from the Mahanadi at Ayatpur village in Cuttack district and flows for about 40 kilometers (km) before joining its parent river at Tarapur.

• The Sukapaika River is an important system of the Mahanadi river for controlling flood waters and maintaining the flow along the river into the Bay of Bengal.

About Mahanadi River

• It is the third largest of peninsular India after Godavari and Krishna, and the largest river of Odisha state.

• The catchment area of the river extends to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

• It originates near Sihawa in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh.