ABSTRACT
The geomorphology of Ajay River Basin has been temporally affected by several direct and indirect anthropogenic activities since the initial imprint of human civilisation in the lower Gangetic basin during the Chalcolithic period. Since the 1970s, a dam-less river basin has been significantly changed through five major and minor dams and barrages, extensive opencast coal mining within the 4–5 km periphery of Trunk River, construction of embankments, rapid deforestation, extending urban areas and transport networks. The consequences have been observed through decreasing channel width towards downstream, rising river bed and flood height. The immediate effect has been shown by frequent havoc floods and events of sand-splay, which are reducing agricultural productivity. In long term, there is also a possibility of ecological impairment by the (dis)connectivity between upstream—downstream of channels and floodplain—channel through the undersized road-stream crossings and unplanned road and railways, respectively.
