Barak River

From its source at Liyai Kullen Village in Manipur state of India wherein the majority of the local population belongs to the Poumai Naga tribe, the river is known as Vourei. Near its source, the river receives a lot of streams, including the Vehrei originating from Phuba Village, Gumti, Howrah, Kagni, Senai Buri, Hari Mangal, Kakrai, Kurulia, Balujhuri, Shonaichhari and Durduria. It flows west in Manipur State, and borders Nagaland, then southwest to Assam where it leaves India and enters Bangladesh at Bhanga Bazar.

Barak River in Lakhipur, Assam

In the state of Manipur, it flows south-west to Tipaimukh where it is joined by the Tuivai river, and then flows northward to Jirimukh where it is joined by the Jiri river from the north. From Jirimukh, the river flows westward into Cachar, then Karimganj district of Assam, then to Sylhet in Bangladesh as the Surma river, and becomes the Meghna river before the Ganga-Brahmaputra river system. The Padma River joins it and flows into the Bay of Bengal as the Meghna river.

Barak is among the richest rivers in the world in terms of aquatic biodiversity, as it contains more than 2,000 species of fishes. Other creatures include River Barak crocodile, or Siamese crocodile (a rare and endangered crocodilian), susu dolphin, smooth-coated otter and the black mugger. From its origin, down to its bifurcation at the border of Nagaland into Surma River and Barak River, the Barak River is 564 kilometres (350 mi) long.[7] The biomes are extremely rich in wildlife and also very diverse in the entire stretch of the river including: 1. Varzea forest (flooded rainforest) 2. Los llamjao (flooded grassland and Savannah) 3. Tidal forest (mangroves in vast Delta Avourei) 4. Flora or vegetation of the Pats (flat-topped table mountains in India and western Cambodia) 5. Huge tropical swamps.

Environmentalists have expressed concern over the way aquatic creatures and their habitats are being destroyed in the upper reaches of river Barak in southern Assam. Prominent nature conservation NGO Society for Activists for Forest and Environment (SAFE) has pointed out that the tribals living on both banks of Barak have developed the harmful practice of blasting small gelatin sticks smuggled from Mizoram in the river to catch fish. In the process, thousands of fish both young and matured along with turtles, dolphins and other aquatic life organisms were becoming the victim of merciless killing.[8]

The Ganges river dolphin also face an imminent threat. The proposed Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River in northeast India – a controversial political issue between India and Bangladesh – could be the last nail in the coffin for the elusive Ganges river dolphin in Assam’s Barak river system, researchers warn.[9] Making a plea for conservation, researchers from Assam have warned in a study that the endangered Ganges river dolphin, India’s national aquatic animal is heading towards “local extinction” in the Barak river system of the state. “Factors like poaching (for oil and meat) and accidental mortalities in fishing gears, gradual habitat degradation by sluice gates, embankments, disturbances like motorboats and aquatic pollution have resulted in the extirpation of the resident dolphin population from the Barak river system of Assam,” M.K. Mazumder, corresponding author of the study, told Mongabay-India.[9]

• List of rivers of India
• List of rivers of Bangladesh

• "Barak Basin". National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India. Archived from the original on 15 May 2017.