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Rebirth of Sukapaika
Down To Earth
|October 16, 2025
A cardiologist revives a dying river in Odisha with help from 425 riparian villages

IN 2019, a quiet yet determined movement began in Odisha's Cuttack district. Residents from 425 villages came together under the banner of the Sukapaika Bachao Abhiyan (Save the Sukapaika campaign) to revive a river that had been declared all but dead. Leading the initiative was an unlikely champion: Pratap Chandra Rath, a cardiologist, now based in Hyderabad, Telangana, who set out to restore the Sukapaika river, the lifeline of his childhood village.
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