Key Facts about Periyar River

About Pennaiyar River:

• It is a major river in southern India, flowing through Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
• It is also known as the South Pennar River, Dakshina Pinakini in Kannada, and Thenpennai, Ponnaiyar, in Tamil. 
• Course:
  • Origin: It originates in the Nandi Hills in the Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka.
  • It then flows southward for 80 km through Karnataka to northwestern Tamil Nadu, where it turns southeastward and flows 320 km to enter the Bay of Bengal at Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. 
• The basin is bounded on the northwest and south by various ranges of the Eastern Ghats, like the Velikonda Range, the Nagari Hills, the Javadu Hills, the Shevaroy Hills, the Chitteri Hills and the Kalrayan Hills, and in the east by the Bay of Bengal.
• It is the second largest interstate east-flowing riverbasin among the 12 basins lying between the Pennar and Cauvery basins.
• It drains an area of 16,019 sq.km., out of which nearly 77 percent lies in Tamil Nadu. 
• Major tributaries are the Chinnar, Markanda, Vaniar, and Pamban. 
• The river is extensively dammed for irrigation, especially in Tamil Nadu.
• The only major metropolitan city in the catchment is Bengaluru, which also happens to be the biggest polluter of the river.

Q1: What is the Eastern Ghats?

It is an ancient discontinuous low mountain range that spreads along the East coast of the Indian Peninsula. The geographical extent of the Eastern Ghats is about 75,000 kilometres, spread over the states of Odisha (25 %), Andhra Pradesh (40%), Telangana (5%), Karnataka (5%) and Tamil Nadu (25%).

News: SC seeks report on dispute between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka over sharing of Pennaiyar river water

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