| Barak River | |
|---|---|
 Barak River winds throughSilchar city | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Countries | India andBangladesh |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Liyai Khullen Village |
| • location | Khongnem, India |
| • coordinates | 25°21′58″N94°03′48″E / 25.3661°N 94.0633°E /25.3661; 94.0633 |
| • elevation | 987 m (3,238 ft) |
| Mouth | Bay of Bengal |
• location | Kandigram Chaita, India |
• coordinates | 24°52′35″N92°29′23″E / 24.8764°N 92.4896°E /24.8764; 92.4896 |
• elevation | 14 m (46 ft) |
| Length | 900 km (560 mi) |
| Basin size | 52,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi) |
TheBarak River orBarbakroorAgu is atrans-boundary river inIndia andBangladesh. It flows 900 kilometres (560 mi)[1][2] through the states ofManipur,Mizoram andAssam in India. It flows into Bangladesh where it bifurcates into theSurma River and theKushiyara River which converge again to become theMeghna River before forming theGanges Delta. Of its total length, 524 km (326 mi) is in India, 31 km (19 mi) in Bangladesh. The upper part of its navigable part is in India — 121 km (75 mi) betweenLakhipur and Bhanga, declared asNational Waterway 16, (NW-16) since the year 2016.[3][4] It drains abasin of 52,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi),[1] of which 41,723 km2 (16,109 sq mi) lies in India, 1.38% (rounded) of the country.[5] The water and banks host or are visited by a wide variety of flora and fauna.
The principaltributaries are all in India: theIrang,Tuivai,Sonai (or Tuirial), theJiri, the Tlawng (or Dhaleswari, or Katakal), theJatinga, the Longai and the Madhura.
Tipaimukh Dam is a proposed dam on the river itself.[6]
From its source at Liyai Kullen Village[citation needed] in theSenapati district of Manipur, where most people are of thePoumai Naga tribe, the river is known asVourei. Near its source, the river receives streams such as the Vehrei originating from Phuba Village, the Gumti, Howrah, Kagni, Senai Buri, Hari Mangal, Kakrai, Kurulia, Balujhuri, Shonaichhari and Durduria.
It flows southwest inManipur, untilTipaimukh, where it makes an almost 180-degree U-turn. Then it flows north untilJirimukh, and turns west flowing into theCachar district of Assam. It enters Bangladesh atBhanga Bazar.
The local rainfall run off of thevalley along with that of adjacent hilly areas flows through river Barak and its various tributaries and is drained out to Bangladesh. The Katakhal(Dhaleshwari),Jiri,Chiri, Modhura,Longai, Sonai, Rukni and Singla are the main tributaries of the valley. The tributaries are mainly rain-fed and cause flood problems when precipitation occurs. The Barak sub-basin drains areas in India, Bangladesh and Burma. The drainage area lying in India is 41723 km2 which is nearly 1.38% of the total geographical area of the country. It is on the north by theBarail Range separating it from theBrahmaputra sub-basin, on the east by the Na Lushai hills and on the south and west byBangladesh. The sub-basin lies in the States ofMeghalaya,Manipur,Mizoram,Assam,Tripura andNagaland.[7]
In Manipur, in its flow south-west to Tipaimukh, it is joined by the Tuivai, and then flows northward to Jirimukh where it is joined by the Jiri river from the north. From here the flow is westward intoCachar, thenKarimganj District of Assam, then to Sylhet in Bangladesh having a co-distributary theSurma River, the other later becoming theMeghna before theGanga-Brahmaputra delta. ThePadma joins it to become the Meghna.
The Barak is among the richest rivers in the world as to aquatic biodiversity, as it contains more than 2,000 species of fish. Other creatures include River Barak orSiamese crocodile (a rare and endangered crocodilian), thesusu dolphin,smooth-coated otter andblack mugger crocodile. From its origin to its bifurcation at the border of Nagaland producing theSurma River the Barak is 564 kilometres (350 mi) long.[8] The entire stretch of the river has various biomes that are extremely rich in wildlife, including:
Environmentalists have expressed concern over the way aquatic creatures and their habitats are being destroyed in the upper reaches of river in southern Assam. Prominent nature conservation NGO Society for Activists for Forest and Environment (SAFE) has pointed out that the tribals living on both banks of Barak have developed the harmful practice of blasting small gelatin sticks smuggled from Mizoram to kill fish. In the process, thousands of fish, young and mature, along with turtles, dolphins and other aquatic life organisms are killed.[9]
TheGanges river dolphin is endangered. The proposedTipaimukh Dam on the river in northeast India – a political controversy between India and Bangladesh – could hasten its extinction, researchers warn.[10] Making a plea for conservation, researchers from Assam state in a study that the dolphin, India's national aquatic animal is heading towards “local extinction” in the river system of the state. “Factors likepoaching (for oil and meat) and accidental mortalities in fishing gear, gradual habitat degradation by sluice gates, embankments, disturbances like motorboats and aquatic pollution have resulted in the extirpation of the resident dolphin population from the Barak river system of Assam,” M.K. Mazumder, corresponding author of the study, wrote.[10]
