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Brief Description of the Basin |
Barak (Meghna) River originates from Japvo mountain of Manipur hills at an altitude of 3,015 m and flows south through mountainous terrain up to Tipaimukh near the tri-junction of the three states: Assam, Manipur and Mizoram. Here, the river takes a hairpin bend and debouches into the plains of Cacher district of Assam and forms the border of Assam and Manipur states up to Jirimat, a little upstream of Lakhimpur. The river then flows through the Barak valley of Assam. From the source to the Indo-Bangladesh border, the Barak River flows for 564 km.
The drainage area of the sub-basin lying in India is 41,157 sq. km which is nearly 1.38% of the total geographical area of the country. It lies between east longitudes 90º10’ to 95º7' and north latitudes 21º58' to 26º24'. It is bounded on the north by the Barail range, on the east by the Naga and Lushai hills and on the south and west by Bangladesh. The bed gradient of the Barak River is very flat and varies from 1:10,000 in the upper reach to 1:20,000 in the lower reach. The culturable area in the sub-basin 0.893 M-ha which is only about 0.5% of the culturable area of the country. | ||||
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Drainage Area of the Basin (in Km2) |
Statewise Drainage Area (in Km2) |
Name of State |
Drainage area | ||
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Meghalaya |
10,650 | ||||
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Manipur |
9,550 | ||||
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Mizoram |
8,280 | ||||
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Assam |
7,224 | ||||
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Tripura |
4,725 | ||||
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Nagaland |
728 | ||||
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Total Drainage Area of Barak Basin (in Km2) |
41,157 | ||||
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Topography |
There are two major physiographic regions in the sub-basin, namely, the hilly region and the plains. The plains are thickly populated and extensively cultivated. Predominate soil types found in the sub-basin are laterite and red and yellow soils. | ||||
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Water Potential of the Basin |
Surface Water potential |
48.4 Km3 | |||
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Ground Water potential |
1.8 Km3 | ||||
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Tributaries |
Jirl, Dhaleshwari, Singla, Longai, Sonai and Katakhal. | ||||
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Hydropower Potential |
The Hydro power Potential at 60% load factor for Barak River is 3908 MW. | ||||
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Water Utilization |
Surface Water Utilization |
Drinking purposes | |||
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Irrigation purposes | |||||
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Ground Water Utilization |
Drinking purposes | ||||
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Irrigation purposes | |||||
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Tipaimukh Dam Project, Tista Champamati and Dhansiri barrages | |||||
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Major Problems |
Floods are an annual feature in the Brahmaputra-Barak basin where the maximum flood prone area is of the order of 4.33 Million ha. Besides a large number of towns and villages are affected by the erosive action of rivers. | ||||