Island Odyssey

The Odisha Forest and Environment Department decided to begin ‘Island Odyssey’ and ‘Hirakud Cruise’ ecotourism packages to islands inside the reservoir after the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.

‘Cattle island’, one among the three islands in the Hirakud reservoir will be a sight-seeing destination.
People were displaced from the villages when the dam was about to be constructed.
Villagers were not able to take their cattle with them. They abandoned their cattle in the villages.
The area submerged following the dam’s construction. The cattle moved to Bhujapahad, an elevated place. Later it was named ‘Cattle island’. This land is now surrounded by a vast sheet of water.

Hirakud Dam is constructed across the Mahanadi River, near Sambalpur city in Odisha.
It is the longest major earthen dam in India.
It began operations in 1957.
The dam provides good irrigation.
Sambalpur is known as the rice bowl of Odisha.

Facts for Prelims:

This festival is celebrated by Tiwa tribesmen to mark their good harvest.
It comes with songs, dances, a bunch of rituals and people clad in their native attires.
The people of Tiwa tribe associate the bountiful harvest with the higher power from nature. This takes the form of pigs’ skulls and bones which act as deities and are preserved through many generations.
Tiwa also known as Lalung is indigenous community inhabiting the states of Assam and Meghalaya and are also found in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.