The Haora River is one of the major rivers of the

West Tripura District West Tripura is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in India. The district headquarters are located at Agartala. As of 2012 it is the most populous district of Tripura (out of 8). Geography Climate District profile The inform ...

of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state

Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...

, located between latitudes 23°37′N and 23°53′N, and longitudinally between 91°15′E and 91°37′E. It is also known by the name Saidra (in

Kokborok Kokborok (or Tripuri) is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kók'' meaning "verbal" or "language" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or "human", It is one of the anci ...

language) by the

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of the state. It is one of the ten major rivers flowing in the State of Tripura, the others being: River Longai, Juri, Deo, Manu, Dhalai,

Khowai Khowai is a town located in the Indian state of Tripura and a Municipal Council in Khowai district. The city lies on the banks of Khowai river and hence from the river the city gets its name. It was originally settled upon by Upendranath Roy. Loc ...

, Bijoy, Gumati, Muhuri and Feny.

Course

The river originates from the western flank of Baramura Hill range, flows south-westwardly and joins the

Titas river The Titas ( ''Titāsa''; also Romanized Titash) is a river in Bangladesh which merges into the Meghna river and forms part of the Surma-Meghna River System. Titas starts its journey from Sarail Upazila, Brahmanbaria. The river is long and again ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. The river is long, of which flows within the Indian Territory and within Bangladesh. The basin area of the river within Tripura is , comprising 5.43% of the total surface area of the state.

History

This river basin was almost uninhabitated before the 1900. After the partition of India and East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh) huge numbers of Hindu immigrants entered into adjacent Tripura and settled down along the Haora River in the Agartala city (capital city). Since then, the dwellers have been using the Haora River for fulfilling their own needs and also for economic benefits. The dwellers, directly or indirectly, have not only been polluting the river water but also contributed in altering the morphology of the river. Since the beginning of twentieth century, the channel of the main Haora River has been modifying over time. Firstly, by the then king Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya, and after that by the Government agencies and local people. To meet the increasing demand of water of the city, Government as well as the local people have been constructing several obstructions: * Along the river (roads and embankments in some places) and, * across the river (bridge piers, causeways, sand bag filling for collecting water and so on), for which the river is being compelled to change its natural flow. Other human activities like,

land-use change Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: for ...

, sand mining, water collection, solid waste disposal, agriculture, and cutting of ''tilla'' land for supplying raw materials to the brick industries have also caused the change of the river course, modifying the natural dynamics of the river. (''Tillas'' are the low elevated denudational uplands which are bifurcated by narrow dry up channels, called ''lunga''. The elevation variations between ''tilla'' and adjacent ''lunga'' have been left only a few meters)

Rainfall and floods

Haora River is a rain-fed river, the flow through it is directly related to the amount of rainfall. The annual flow is measured at 36 million cubic metres of water accounting for 4.54% of all river flow in the state ( Gumati sitting at top with 31.45%). All the rivers draining the State originate in the hill ranges and are prone to flood during the rainy season. Whenever the intensity of the rainfall exceeds the normal, the river discharge rises. The volume of water rushing down from the catchment areas cannot be accommodated within the river banks. As a result, the rivers overtop the banks and flood the low-lying areas. Flood level of the Haora river indicates that the danger level is at , whereas, the extreme danger level is at . The highest flood level of this river was observed at in 2004.

References

{{Rivers in and around Bengal Agartala Rivers of Tripura