Barakar River

Barakar River originates from a place called Padma situated in a district of Hazaribagh in the state of Jharkhand. Barakar River runs down from west to east direction diagonally to the northern most part of the Chota Nagpur tableland and pours across 225 kilometres of the area and later merges into Damodar situated near Dishergarh of the district of Bardhaman in West Bengal.

Facts

Barakar River borders the northern most lot of the Hills of Parasnath, which is the highest hill situated in the district of Giridih in Jharkhand and also a Jain pilgrimage place.

During rainy season Barakar River runs in full rage to the full limit. Barakar River during the rains overflows and is known to splash away two newly constructed over-bridges on the Grand Trunk Road. The Bridge known as The Great Stone Bridge was constructed in 1848 in Hazaribagh was splashed away on 1913 during the heavy rainfall, which was measured to be 10 inches in twenty four hour. Another tapered iron bridge was constructed replacing The Great stone Bridge over Barakar River, however the same splashed away in 1946 again during the deluge. In 1950, a new bridge is constructed which have successfully survived the rage of Barakar River.

There is one more bridge constructed on The Grand trunk road diagonal to the Barakar River which connects a small village of the same name of the river Barakar situated in the Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Currently the bridge needs a renovation as it was constructed in nineteenth century and has to face a major amount of traffic load of the city.

A great amount of the rain water pours down the gorge which causes to form major panic in the lower part of the Damodar stream. The rainy season in the area starts from June to September and annually the rainfall measure is approx from 765 mm to 1605 mm.

In order to control the Barakar River along with Damodar River, The Damodar Valley Corporation has designed and implemented India's foremost multiuse project, which constructed its 1st dam of the development diagonal to Barakar River at Tilayia.

Tributaries

Barakar River is the primary tributary of Damodar River situated in the eastern part Jharkhand, India. Primarily Damodar River is recognised as the River of Sorrow due to its nature of devastating deluges in the valleys of West Bengal. Due to major construction of the dam in the area of Damodar River, the tributary are under control.

Usri River and Barsoti River are the chief tributaries of Barakar River that runs down from south towards north correspondingly. Other than these two rivers Usri River and Barsoti River, there are 15 other small tributaries of Barakar River which forms into watercourses.

Present Scenario

First dam was Tilayia, second dam was constructed in the Konar River which is a tributary of Damodar River and 3rd Dam was Maithon, constructed as part of the project of the Damodar Valley Corporation.

Currently Damodar Valley Corporation has proposed another dam in Barakar at the Balpahari of Jharkhand.

How to Reach

Barakar River is situated in Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand. Asansol is the nearest bus stand to reach Barakar River situated 19 km from Asansol. Asansol is also connected to major cities through highway including Kolkata.

Asansol Railway station is one of the most revenue generators of the state. The trains are available to Asansol from major metro cities including Delhi.

Aerodrome is situated in Burnpur in Asansol. There is another Airport under construction in the city called Andal.

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