KonkanArticle Free Pass Konkan, also called Aparanta, coastal
plain of western India, lying between the Arabian Sea (west) and
the Western Ghats (east). The plain stretches approximately 330
miles (530 km) from the Daman Ganga River north of Mumbai
(Bombay) to the Terekhol River between Maharashtra and Goa
states and Daman and Diu union territory in the south. Between
28 and 47 miles (45 and 76 km) in width, the Konkan includes the
regions of Thane, Greater Mumbai, Raigarh, and Ratnagiri. The
region is traversed by seasonal rivers that drain the heavy
monsoonal rainfall from the crest of the Sahyadri Hills. The
generally uneven terrain is composed of eroded remnant ranges of
the Ghats that form low lateritic plateaus in the west and
terminate in a coastline of alternating bays and headlands. Only
about one-third of the land is cultivable, and the population
lives mainly in the relatively fertile river valleys near the
coast and in the newly developed industrial belts around Mumbai,
Thane, Khopali, and Panvel.