MULTI-PURPOSE PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ORISSA’S RIVERS 303
droughts and famines can be as great as that caused by floods. It is said that in the drought of 1866, nearly 40 per cent of the population of Puri district perished.
“Deterioration in health is another affliction of the people of Orissa. The total population of the province of Orissa is 77 [1] / 2 lakhs. According to the health report of the province, the total deaths in 1944 were 2,35,581. Of these, 1,30,000 died from some kind of fevers and a majority by malarial fever. This means that three per cent of her people died in 1944, and of these nearly half died of malaria. This is a very high figure. In 1944, 19 per cent of the student population was found to show distinct signs of malnutrition and 8.7 per cent showed signs of vitamin deficiency.
“If these facts arc true, Orissa cannot be said to be above the poverty line. The third affliction of Orissa—I think it could be called an affliction—is its want of internal communications. Orissa is a locked-up country. Except for the solitary railway line, running along her eastern sea coast, there is no means of communication either by railway or by canal to connect the vast hinterland with the sea coast.”
“Should Orissa continue to be in such a wretched state as it is today ?” Dr. Ambedkar asked. “It need not. It has natural resources, and they are by no means meagre. Orissa has coal, Orissa has irion, chrome, graphite, bauxite, limestone, mica, and Orissa has also bamboo, to mention only some of its important natural resources.”
“There is another precious possession which Orissa has, namely her water wealth. The amount of water that passes through the Orissa delta is just vast. The delta—comprising roughly the three districts of Cuttack, Puri and Balasore and covering an area of about 8,000 square miles—is traversed by a network of distributaries arising mainly from three rivers, the Mahanadi, the Brahmani, and the Baitarani.
“Two more rivers—the Burabalang and the Subarnarekha— of relatively lesser importance, also pass through the delta. The three main rivers referred to above drain an area of 69,000 square miles above the delta, lying in the Eastern States, Central Provinces and Bihar. Of these the Mahanadi—the largest of the three—drains 51,000 square miles. Between them, these three rivers carry each year to the sea a discharge of about 90 million acre feet.”