Hooghly River
The Hooghly River (Anglicized alternatively spelt as Hoogli or Hugli) or popularly called Ganga or Kati-Ganga in the Puranas, is a river that rises close to Giria, which lies north of Baharampur and Palashi in Murshidabad. It is the western distributary of the Ganges. The main course of the Ganges then flows into Bangladesh as the Padma. A man-made canal, built in the 1960s and early-1970s at Farakka, connects the Ganges, flowing through Malda, to the Hooghly (also called Bhagirathi) to bring the abundant waters of the Himalayan river to the comparatively narrow river that rises in eastern West Bengal.
| Hooghly River Bhagirathi | |
|---|---|
The River Hooghly flowing through Bally , Howrah | |
| Location | |
| Country | India |
| State | West Bengal |
| Districts | Murshidabad, Nadia, Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Ganga |
| Mouth | Bay of Bengal |
• location | Sunderbans in West Bengal |
| Length | 260 kilometres |
| Depth | |
| • maximum | 117 m |
| Basin features | |
| Bridges | Vidyasagar Setu (Second Hooghly Bridge) Rabindra Setu (Howrah Bridge) Nivedita Setu Vivekananda Setu (Bally bridge) Sampreeti Bridge Jubilee Bridge Ishwar Gupta Setu Gourango Setu New Bhagirathi Bridge Ramendra Sundar Tribedi Setu Jangipur Bhagirathi Bridge |
The river flows through the Rarh region, comprising the lower deltaic districts of West Bengal, to meet the Bay of Bengal. The upper riparian zone of the river is called the Bhagirathi while the lower riparian zone is called the Hooghly. Major and minor rivers that drain into the Hooghly include the Ajay, Falgu, Jalangi and Churni to the north and Rupnarayan, Mayurakshi, Damodar and Haldi to the south. Major cities that stand on the banks of the Hooghly are Baharampur, Kalyani, Tribeni, Saptagram, Bandel, Hugli, Chandannagar, Srirampur, Barrackpur, Rishra, Konnagar, Uttarpara, Titagarh, Kamarhati, Agarpara, Baranagar, Howrah, Kolkata, and Uluberia.
The Hooghly has religious significance as Hindus consider the river sacred. The river also plays a major role in the agriculture, industry, and climate of the state.