The river known as the 'Sorrow of Bengal' because of its devastating floods is the:

The Damodar river was called the "Sorrow of Bengal" because of its frequent and destructive floods in the lower plains of West Bengal.

Course of the Damodar:

• It rises in the Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand, near the Palamu (Palamau) area.
• It flows east through Jharkhand and West Bengal and joins the Hooghly river, south of Kolkata.
• Its length is about 592 km.
• Its main tributary is the Barakar.

Why it caused floods:

• Heavy monsoon rainfall over the plateau sends large amounts of water into the river very quickly.
• When the river reaches the flat plains of West Bengal, it overflows its banks, flooding farmland and towns.
• A disastrous flood in 1943 led to the planning of a multipurpose project to control it.

Damodar Valley Corporation:

To control floods and develop the region, the Damodar Valley Project was planned on the model of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of the USA.

It was India's first multipurpose river valley project after independence. The organisation set up to run it is covered in a separate question.

Dams built under the project include Tilaiya and Maithon (on the Barakar), and Konar and Panchet (on the Damodar and its tributaries).

The Durgapur Barrage provides irrigation through canals.

Thermal power stations at Bokaro, Chandrapura, Mejia, Durgapur and other places generate electricity.

Today, the floods have been greatly reduced, although they still occur in years of very heavy rain.

The Damodar Valley is also a major industrial belt, with centres such as Bokaro, Asansol and Durgapur.

Pollution:

The river is heavily polluted by industrial waste, fly ash and coal mining.

Other "sorrows":

• Kosi = Sorrow of Bihar.
• Huang He = Sorrow of China.

Why not the other options?

• ✗The Kosi is the Sorrow of Bihar.
• ✗The Teesta and Mahananda are rivers of north Bengal, not called the Sorrow of Bengal.