| Kangsabati River Cossye | |
|---|---|
 Kangsabati River nearMidnapore City | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | India |
| State | West Bengal |
| Cities | Purulia,Bankura,Midnapore,Kharagpur |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Jabor Pahar,Purulia district,Chota Nagpur Plateau,West Bengal |
| Length | 465.23 km (289.08 mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Haldia |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | Kumari River |
Kangsabati River (Pron:/ˌkæŋsəˈbɑːtɪ/) (also variously known as theKãsai andCossye) rises from theChota Nagpurplateau in the state ofWest Bengal,India and passes through the districts ofPurulia,Bankura,Jhargram,Paschim Medinipur andPurba Medinipur in West Bengal before draining in theBay of Bengal.
The river'sheadwaters are on theChota Nagpur Plateau inPurulia district, near the city ofJhalda, where the smaller rivers Saharjhor and Girgiri join together. From there, it passes throughBankura district, passing the towns ofPurulia,Khatra andRanibandh. At Binpur it is joined by theBhairabbanki, and at Keshpur the river splits into two.
The northern branch flows through the Daspur area, where it is known as the Palashpai Canal. This branch eventually flows into theRupnarayan River. The other branch, still called the Kangsabati, flows in a south-easterly direction. Eventually, it meets theKeleghai River, and the junction of the two forms theHaldi River, which flows into theBay of Bengal atHaldia.[1]
In 1956, the Indian government launched the Kangsabati Irrigation Project (also called the Kangsabati Reservoir Project) to provide water for the irrigation ofBankura,Hooghly, andMidnapore districts (the last now partitioned intoPaschim Medinipur andPurba Medinipur districts).[2] To facilitate this,Mukutmanipur Dam was constructed at the border of Purulia and Bankura districts nearMukutmanipur, creating a large reservoir.[3] It is an earthengravity dam with a concrete saddlespillway, standing 38 metres (125 ft) high and 10,098 m (33,130 ft) long with a gross storage capacity of 1.04 cubic kms (36.73 tmcft).[3] Prior to this project, ananicut dam built on the Kangsabati River nearMidnapore in 1784 was the sole irrigational structure on the river.[4] As of August 2008[update], the dam provided water to just under 3,500 square kilometres (1,400 sq mi) of land.[2]
22°55′20″N86°46′47″E / 22.922350°N 86.779633°E /22.922350; 86.779633
