Rushikulya River

Odisha State is known for its Rushikulya River and it perfectly covers the whole catchment areas in districts of Ganjam and Kandhamal. This Rushikulya River originates at a remarkable height of 1000 meters. This Rushikulya River is present at geographical coordinate of 18.06 to 19.07 northern latitude and 83.02 to 84.05 eastern longitudes. It gets convoluted with Bay of Bengal that occurs at Purana Bandha of Chhatrapur region.

Tributaries

The tributaries of Rushikulya River are Dhanei, Badanadi and Baghua. It does not have any delta in its mouth region. This river flows via Daringbadi block that lies in Kandhamal region of Ganjam district. It flows via Dharakote, Surada, Sheragada, Asika, Ganjam, Hinjilicut and Asika and then ultimately reaches the Chhatrapur block. This river is approximately 163 kms long and its catchments area is 7500 km square. It was in the year 1993 when biologists from Forest Odisha department as well as Indian Institute of wildlife learnt that a great number of Ridley Olive turtles were found at mouth region of Rushikulya River. This is one of the remote areas for mass nesting is regarded as a site of Ridley Olive sea turtle. Some of the villages that are located near to this river are Puruna Bandha, Pali Bandha, Kantia Pada and Gokhara Kuda. Here, you can easily come across various nesting sites of Ridley Olive Turtles. Moreover, these are also regarded as the Fishermen's village. Brahmapur is regarded as the urban centers and it is situated in Basin. Some of the prime towns present in this area include- Ganjam, Chhatrapur, Bhanjanagar, Aska as well as Surada.

Present Situation

The present situation seems to be a lot more fruitful as number of industries had been set up in this region. Some of the main names in this are- Aska Co-operative, Aska Spinning, Jayshree Chemical along with Orissa Tubes. At present, the accurate number of SSI is 3200 of various categories and this is inclusive of wood and forest, plastic products, ceramics and glass and allied food. However, there is sufficient scope for establishing Forest industries. This river is extremely rich in the mineral wealth and some of the prime ones include-Lime stone, sand talc, grinding materials, black sand and clay.

Photo Gallery