🗺️ Maharashtra — Interactive Map

About this map

High-resolution OpenStreetMap-based interactive map of Maharashtra built specifically for MPSC geography preparation and casual exploration. The map opens with only the Rivers layer enabled so you can read the drainage clearly; tap any other pill in the layer panel on the left (or theAll button) to add dams, waterfalls, ghats, the three power-plant categories (☢️ Nuclear, 🌀 Hydroelectric, 🏭 Thermal), mineral belts, UNESCO sites and historic forts. The base tiles are streamed from OpenStreetMap, so every zoom level is razor sharp — pan to Konkan for the coastal rivers, zoom out to see the full state drainage, or fly to a specific district to check the layers around it.

Deccan / east-flowing rivers — Godavari, Krishna, Bhima, Tapi, Wardha, Wainganga, Painganga — are drawn with a thicker dark-blue line, with their tributaries (Krishna: Koyna, Venna, Panchganga, Warna, Yerla, Dudhganga, Hiranyakeshi, Agrani; Koyna sub-tribs Solshi, Kandati, Morna; Godavari: Pravara, Manjira, Purna, Mula, Darna, Kadwa, Sindphana; Bhima: Mula-Mutha, Indrayani, Nira, Pavna, Bhama, Ghod, Sina; Tapi: Girna, Purna, Panzhra, Bori, Aner; Wardha: Yashoda, Wenna; Wainganga: Kanhan, Pench, Bagh, Bavanthadi; Painganga: Adan, Pus, Arunavati) drawn slightly thinner.

Konkan / west-flowing coastal rivers — Damanganga, Vaitarna, Ulhas, Patalganga, Amba, Kundalika, Savitri, Vashishti, Shastri, Kajli, Muchkundi, Gad, Karli, Terekhol — all rise in the Sahyadri and empty into the Arabian Sea, shown with their tributaries (Vaitarna: Pinjal, Surya, Tansa; Ulhas: Bhatsa). Historic forts use a saffron flag marker.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Why an interactive map for MPSC Geography?

Every MPSC preliminary paper in the last decade has carried at least eight to twelve questions from Maharashtra Geography. The recurring themes are drainage (which river rises where, which tributary joins which mainstem, which basin a district belongs to), the Sahyadri and its ghats (which pass connects which district-pair on either side of the crest), the state's power infrastructure (which category of plant, which fuel, which capacity), mineral belts, forest cover and UNESCO-designated heritage sites. Reading these as a bullet list in a textbook is a slow way to internalise them; seeing them plotted on a single map is a fast way. That is why the map was built.

The map is organised as ten independently toggleable layers so an aspirant can revise one theme at a time without visual overload. A typical revision session starts with only the Rivers layer on to trace the six major basins, then adds Dams to see the storage nodes on each river, then adds one of the three power-plant layers to see how the drainage supports the state's energy grid, and finally adds Forts and UNESCO to overlay the historic and cultural map on top of the physical one. The whole cycle takes about ten minutes and covers roughly half of a typical MPSC Geography section by itself.

Layer-by-layer notes for revision

🏔️ Ghats. The Sahyadri range runs roughly 750 km north to south through Maharashtra, dividing the Konkan coastal strip from the Deccan plateau. The major ghats that MPSC asks about, from north to south, are Thal (Nashik ↔ Mumbai), Kasara (Mumbai ↔ Nashik via the Igatpuri corridor), Malshej (Pune ↔ Thane), Bor (part of the Khandala corridor on the Mumbai-Pune expressway), Tamhini (Pune ↔ Konkan), Varandha (Bhor ↔ Mahad), Kumbharli (Karad ↔ Chiplun), Amba (Kolhapur ↔ Ratnagiri) and Fonda (Belgaum ↔ Goa border). Each ghat maps to a specific district-pair, which is exactly the pairing MPSC tests.

💧 Dams. Maharashtra has more large dams than any other state in India (2,000+ of every size and 60+ major storages). The ten dams asked most frequently in MPSC PYQs are Koyna (Krishna basin, ~1,960 MW hydro), Jayakwadi (Godavari, Aurangabad, largest reservoir by volume), Bhandardara / Wilson (Pravara, one of India's oldest concrete dams from 1926), Tansa and Upper Vaitarna (Mumbai's primary drinking-water sources), Khadakwasla and Panshet (Pune water supply), Chandoli / Warna (Krishna sub-basin), Manjara (Godavari sub-basin), Ujani (Bhima, Solapur) and Hatnur (Tapi). Learn each dam with its river and its district; that triplet is almost always the answer key.

☢️ Nuclear plants. Only two are relevant to Maharashtra: the operational Tarapur Atomic Power Station (Palghar district, four units — TAPS-1 and 2 are original BWRs from 1969, TAPS-3 and 4 are indigenous 540 MW PHWRs commissioned in 2005–06, total ~1,400 MW), and the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Project (Ratnagiri district, six units of 1,650 MW EPRs planned in collaboration with France's EDF — this will become the world's largest nuclear plant if built).

🌀 Hydroelectric plants. Koyna (~1,960 MW across four stages, in Satara district, by far the largest hydro in the state), Bhira (300 MW, Tata Power, Raigad), Khopoli (72 MW, Tata Power), Bhivpuri (75 MW, Tata Power), Ghatghar (250 MW pumped storage, Ahmednagar), Pench (160 MW, Nagpur), Vaitarna (60 MW), Tillari (66 MW, Sindhudurg) and Yeldari (22.5 MW, Parbhani).

🏭 Thermal plants. Chandrapur STPS (3,340 MW, MahaGenco — the state's largest), Koradi (2,400 MW, Nagpur), Khaperkheda (1,340 MW, Nagpur), Mauda STPS (2,320 MW, NTPC), Tiroda (3,300 MW, Adani, Gondia), Parli (1,170 MW, Beed), Paras (500 MW, Akola), Bhusawal (1,420 MW, Jalgaon), Nashik / Eklahare (910 MW), Trombay (1,580 MW, Tata Mumbai), Dahanu (500 MW, Adani Palghar), JSW Ratnagiri / Jaigad (1,200 MW) and Uran gas-based (672 MW). Cluster them mentally into the Vidarbha cluster (Chandrapur, Koradi, Khaperkheda, Mauda, Tiroda), the Marathwada cluster (Parli, Paras) and the western cluster (Trombay, Dahanu, Jaigad).

🏛️ UNESCO sites & forts. Ajanta Caves (Aurangabad district, Buddhist caves 200 BCE–650 CE), Ellora Caves (Aurangabad, syncretic Buddhist + Hindu + Jain caves, including the Kailasa temple at Cave 16), Elephanta Caves (Mumbai harbour, 5th–8th century Shaiva caves), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT, Mumbai, Victorian Gothic railway station), the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai and the natural Western Ghats. The historic forts layer shows Raigad (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's capital, coronation 1674), Sinhagad (Tanaji's battle), Pratapgad (Battle of Pratapgad 1659), Shivneri (birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj), Lohgad, Rajgad, Torna (first fort captured by Shivaji), Daulatabad (Devagiri, the medieval Yadava capital), Panhala (largest fort in the Deccan) and the Vijaydurg sea fort.