Birupa river likely to fade into history - WSO

Bhubaneswar, Nov 21 (UNI) The World Bank-funded barrage on the Birupa river, an important tributary of the Mahanadi river, will turn it into a dead river.

If no steps are taken within the next couple of decades, the river on which lakhs of fishermen survive would fade into history like the ancient Prachi river, Wildlife Society of Orissa(WSO) Secretary Biswajit Mohanty warned.

Considered as an important distributary of the Mahanadi, the river originating near Cuttack flows downstream joining the Brahmani river near Indupur in Kendrapada district.

The river has a rich historical significance for coastal Orissa and tremendous religious significance since ancient times as pilgrims used to visit numerous Buddhist shrines thriving on its banks.

Many Buddhist monks used to sail down the river to the Bay of Bengal to travel to Ceylon and Java. The Pancha Pandava temple (built around the 9th century) at Jalauka is a rich example of the exquisite carvings of the Somavamsi dynasty.

Mr Mohanty said the river's character changed drastically after the commissioning of the new Birupa Barrage at Choudwar during 1990.

The new barrage, funded by the World Bank has high walls holding back most of the water restricting the water flow.

On the other hand, the old annicut built by the British has a lower height and hence restricted the flow of the river in a small way allowing the river to retain its natural flow.

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