Question

Chotanagpur plateau is drained by the river ____________.
A. Godavari
B. Mahanadi
C. Damodar
D. Krishna

Answer 1

Hint: The title ‘sorrow of Bengal’ was assigned to the river which divides the Chota Nagpur plateau into two parts because of its ravaging flood in the districts of Bardhaman, Howrah, Hooghly and Medinipur.

Complete Answer: The Chota Nagpur plateau expands over an area of approximately 65,000 square kilometres and to its south lies the basin of the Mahanadi River. The Damodar River flows on the Chota Nagpur plateau dividing it into two plateaus - the Hazaribagh plateau and the Ranchi plateau. After flowing into the upland it comes down and meets Hugli river in West Bengal.

Damodar River flows through the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal and the total length is 541 km. The river rises from the Chotanagpur plateau, Jharkhand and continues to flow through a rift valley, finally merging into the Hugli River. . It has several tributaries and sub tributaries such as Barakar, Bokara, Haharo and Konar. The river is rich in minerals and is home to large scale mining and industrial activities. The river accounts for six per cent of the coal reserves of India and is considered as the ‘Ruhr of India’. As it is home to several industrial activities, the river got polluted gradually by mine overburden, oil, toxic metals, fly ash and coal dust.

Thus, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: To the north and east of the Chota Nagpur plateau lies the Indo-Gangetic plains. The river that dissects the plateau is no longer called ‘the sorrow of Bengal’ after the construction of dams across it to control the river water flow.