Ganges River is regarded as trans-boundary Indian and Bangladesh rivers and it is 2525 km. It will be rising in the western Himalayas and would be flowing in the south direction through Gangetic North India plain and it will get emptied into the Bay of Bengal. It is considered to be one of the largest rivers and it has been ranked among the top ’20s.
Ganges River Information
- Name of River – Ganges River
- Location – Bangladesh, India
- Origin – Khatling Glacier, Satopanth Glacier Gangotri Glacier, and waters from melted snow through various peaks as Trisul, Nanda Kot, Nanda Devi, Kedarnath, and Kamet. Uttarakhand, India
- Length – 2,525 km
- Depth – 100 feet
There are millions of people who are heavily reliant on its water and the Ganga Goddess is also worshipped by Hindus. It is having a lot of importance in history as well and there are numerous capitals such as Murshidabad, Patliputra, Kashi, Munger, Kannauj, Kolkata, Allahabad, and Baharampur are present at this river banks only.
This river has been ranked in the series of polluted rivers and coli are also formed and that is more than the limit as prescribed by the Government. The biggest problem is that the pollution would not be threatening only to human beings, but also to the fish species and amphibian species as well.
One of the environmental initiatives was the Ganga Action plan and this was unable to work because of the corruption and technical expertise lack. Moreover, it was unable to get any support from the Indian Government and traditional values also did not support it.
Ganges basin that is formed would be heavily populated and it comprises more than four hundred million people and it is having 1000 inhabitants in the area of 390 per km sq. One of the most important facts is that it is considered to be one of the Hindus sacred rivers and it is also one of the important lifelines for Hindus.
The Course of the River
The Ganges will be starting from the Bhagirathi along with Alaknanda rivers confluence and it is also one of the best sources that represent the Hindu culture as well as mythology. Alaknanda headwaters are formed through snowmelt and that includes Trisul, Nanda Devi and Kamet peaks.
Bhagirathi will be starting from the Gangotri glacier foot and that is having the elevation of 3890m. There are numerous streams that would comprise the Ganges headwater and they are considered to be amongst the 6 longest and they are sacred as well.
6 headstreams are as follows- Nandakini, Alaknanda, Mandakini, Pindar, Dhauliganga, and Bhagirathi River. 5 confluences are known by the name of Panch Prayag and they are also combined with Alaknanda.
These are present in a downstream and that order is as follows-Vishnuprayag, here Dhauliganga will be joining with Alaknanda and Nandprayag is the point where Nandakini would be joining.
Karnaprayag is where Pindar will be joined and Rudraprayag is the point where Mandakini would be joined and Devprayag would be joined at Bhagirathi and then they will be forming Ganges River.
When it would have flown for 250kms and then it will get narrowed through Himalayan valley and the Ganges will be coming through mountains and then it would be getting debouched into the Gangetic plain and that is present at the Pilgrimage Haridwar town.
It also comprises a dam and all its water would be going into Ganges Canal and then it will irrigate all Uttar Pradesh Doab regions and river course will be in the southwest region.
Now, it would get started flowing in the southeast direction and northern India. These Ganges will be flowing in an 800 km arching course and that will be passing through Kanpur, Farukhabad, and Kannauj. This would be getting joined through Ramganga and it will be contributing to the annual flow of 500m/s. It would be joining the Yamuna and it will have Sangam at Allahabad and this is considered to be very religious.
During its midway between Malda and Allahabad, it would be passing through West Bengal and Mirzapur, Chunar, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Patna, Sultanganj, Saidpur, Simaria, Buxar, Ballia, and Bhagalpur. From Bhagalpur, the river would get started flowing in the south-eastern direction and the attrition will be getting branched away in the southeastern direction and that is at Pakur.
Farraka Barrage will be controlling the Ganges flow and then all the water will get diverted into the feeder canal and that is linked through Hooghly and the main reason is that it should be free from Silt.
Hooghly River gets formed through the confluence of the Bhagirathi river along with Nabadwip and Jalangi River Rat and it comprises many tributaries. Damodar River is one of the largest rivers and it is approximately 540 m and it is having the drainage basin of approximately 25,800km sq.
It would be empty in the Bay of Bengal and that is near to the Sagar Island. When it will be entering into Bangladesh and its main branch known by the name of Padma and it will join through Jamuna River and this is Brahmaputra’s largest distributary.
Later on, it will be getting joined through Meghna River and then it would be entering into Meghna Estuary and it would be getting emptied into the Bay of Bengal. Ganges delta is mainly formed through Brahmaputra and Ganges flows and it is considered to be the largest of all and it will be stretching along the Bay of Bengal.
