Abstract:

The Northern Eastern Ghats Belt (NEGB) of length ≈400 km emerges from Bhubaneswar in the east, Lathor of Balangir, and Vishakhapatnam in the south. NEGB is dissimilar from the central and Southern EGB. The hills and the drainage network differ in their stratification lithology, minerals, rivers, forests, hot springs, and numerous waterfalls. The evolvement, topography, drainage system, biodiversity, geographic and geologic structures, and rock characteristics, differ in the NEGB Hills of Odisha, from Bhubaneswar to Malkanagiri, Odisha. The vegetation, shear zones, cratons, faults, and grabens regulate the climate, rainfall, and fluvial, mineral, igneous, and tectonic activities. The under-exploitation of the water resources and over-exploitation of all resources like mines, and forests with poor infrastructural facilities have made the southern fringes of EGB amidst the hilly NEGB Mountains poorly subjugated except for only four hydel schemes. With a lion’s share of the scheduled population and plenty of medico-ethnobotanical plants, biological hotspot zones are investigated to convert them from herbal to pharmaceuticals as they are at hand and cost-effective. The waterfalls, geological, geographical, and tourist hotspots in the NEGB Hills can be planned and developed giving exposure to its bio-diversity, for future ecotourism, and hydropower generation in the mountainous districts of southern and southwestern Odisha.