Page 73 - Sugam Sarita

The river is very important from the point of view of several

economic activities and these activities are completely dependent
on the river. Various non-agriculture activities such as fishing and
Mineral extraction is done on the banks of river. There are several
recent units and resorts set up near the river and even on the banks

of the river. 62.5% of hotels and tourism is dependent on the river.
25% of transport and boating is also dependent on the river. Whereas
all of the river water is important for the domestic household that is
dependent on rivers.

Hooghly River

Until the seventeenth century, when the main course of the Ganges
shifted eastward decisively, the Hooghly was the major channel
through which the Ganges entered the Bay of Bengal. From its source

in the high Himalayas, the Ganges flowed in a broadly southeasterly
direction across the Indian plains before descending to the loose
alluvial soil of Bengal and charting a southward course through what
would later be known as the Hooghly basin.

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