Rushikulya River

The Rushikulya River is one of the major rivers in the state of Odisha and covers entire catchment area in the districts of Kandhamal and Ganjam of Odisha. The Rushikulya originates at an elevation of about 1000 metres from Daringbadi hills of the Eastern Ghats range. The place from where the river originates, Daringbadi is called the ‘ Kashmir of Odisha ‘. The river lies within the geographical coordinates of 19.07 to 20.19 north latitude and 84.01 to 85.06 east longitude. It meets the Bay of Bengal at Puruna Bandha in Ganjam. Its tributaries are the Baghua, the Dhanei, the Badanadi etc. It has no delta as such at its mouth.

The river flows from the Daringbadi hill station in Kandhamal district. In the Ganjam district it flows through Surada, Dharakote, Asika, Pitala, Purusottampur, Taratarini, Pratappur, Alladigam, Brahmapur, Ganjam and the Chhatrapur block. The river is 165 km long with a total catchment area of 7700 km2.

In 1993, biologists from the Odisha Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India learned that large scale nesting of olive ridley sea turtles was taking place near the mouth of the Rushikulya River. This area is the location of one of the largest mass nesting (arribada) sites of olive ridley sea turtles in India.[1] The villages near the mouth are Pali Bandha, Puruna Bandha, Gokhara Kuda and Kantia Pada, where one can find the nesting sites of the olive ridley turtles. These are fishermen’s villages.