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India opens all 109 gates of Farakka Barrage
India opened the gates on 24 August to release the Ganges water but no significant changes in the water level in the related rivers have been reported in the last two days
en.prothomalo.com
India opens all 109 gates of Farakka Barrage
Suvojit BagchiKolkata
Updated: 26 Aug 2024, 23: 09
Farakka BarrageFile photo
The authorities have opened all 109 sluice and spillway gates of Farakka Barrage in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal as the water level in the Ganges river in Bihar has increased abnormally.
A government source confirmed this to this correspondent that the water level has crossed the danger level of 72 feet. The water was flowing at 76 feet, the source added.
However, it is uncertain whether this opening of Farakka gates would create any flood like situation in the downstream areas since the water is being released in a controlled way.
The source in the Indian government told Prothom Alo Monday, “The meaning of controlled release here is that the gates have not been opened at equal height. Some of the gates have been opened at 10-12 feet height and some of them at 3-4 feet. As a result, water is not being released equally through all the gates.”
This was done keeping in mind so that no flood-like situation appears anywhere, the source stated.
India opened the gates on 24 August to release the Ganges water but no significant changes in the water level in the related rivers have been reported in the last two days, the source added.
To prove the point, the source said, “Had the water level risen, Farakka Block at the north of Murshidabad and parts of Samserganj Block would have washed away before the rise in water level in Padma River. But that did not happen in the last two days.”
The water level has not risen in the two downstream districts of Farakka Barrage due to releasing water in such a controlled manner, the source reiterated.
However, a note of caution has also been issued saying that it cannot be said in advance about what would happen in the coming days if water level continues to rise in the Ganges River in Bihar.
The water levels have not risen in the feeder canals through which water released through Farakka Barrage reaches South Bengal and Kolkata via Bhagirathi River and other areas of Murshidabad.
Speaking about this, Sardar Uday Raihan, executive engineer at Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre of Bangladesh, told Prothom Alo, “Any rise in the water levels was not seen at the points through which water enters into Bangladesh from Farakka Barrage. But the water level could rise in the rivers in Khulna and Barishal due to an increase in rainfall, the weather forecast said.”
Suvojit BagchiKolkata
Updated: 26 Aug 2024, 23: 09
Farakka BarrageFile photo
The authorities have opened all 109 sluice and spillway gates of Farakka Barrage in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal as the water level in the Ganges river in Bihar has increased abnormally.
A government source confirmed this to this correspondent that the water level has crossed the danger level of 72 feet. The water was flowing at 76 feet, the source added.
However, it is uncertain whether this opening of Farakka gates would create any flood like situation in the downstream areas since the water is being released in a controlled way.
The source in the Indian government told Prothom Alo Monday, “The meaning of controlled release here is that the gates have not been opened at equal height. Some of the gates have been opened at 10-12 feet height and some of them at 3-4 feet. As a result, water is not being released equally through all the gates.”
This was done keeping in mind so that no flood-like situation appears anywhere, the source stated.
India opened the gates on 24 August to release the Ganges water but no significant changes in the water level in the related rivers have been reported in the last two days, the source added.
To prove the point, the source said, “Had the water level risen, Farakka Block at the north of Murshidabad and parts of Samserganj Block would have washed away before the rise in water level in Padma River. But that did not happen in the last two days.”
The water level has not risen in the two downstream districts of Farakka Barrage due to releasing water in such a controlled manner, the source reiterated.
However, a note of caution has also been issued saying that it cannot be said in advance about what would happen in the coming days if water level continues to rise in the Ganges River in Bihar.
The water levels have not risen in the feeder canals through which water released through Farakka Barrage reaches South Bengal and Kolkata via Bhagirathi River and other areas of Murshidabad.
Speaking about this, Sardar Uday Raihan, executive engineer at Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre of Bangladesh, told Prothom Alo, “Any rise in the water levels was not seen at the points through which water enters into Bangladesh from Farakka Barrage. But the water level could rise in the rivers in Khulna and Barishal due to an increase in rainfall, the weather forecast said.”
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India denies Bangladesh minimum info on common rivers
Bangladesh remains exposed to devastating floods, thanks to India not sharing minimum information on the 54 common rivers, some of them the largest in the world, even after...
www.newagebd.net
India denies Bangladesh minimum info on common rivers
Emran Hossain 27 August, 2024, 23:40
Bangladesh remains exposed to devastating floods, thanks to India not sharing minimum information on the 54 common rivers, some of them the largest in the world, even after arbitrarily obstructing their courses upstream at numerous locations through dams and barrages.
India only shares the information of the daily water level records of eight of the 54 common rivers, according to the Joint Rivers Commission, the bilateral working group set up by Bangladesh and India in 1972 for the management of the common rivers for mutual benefits.
In more than the five decades since the commission came into being only one major treaty for sharing water in the Ganges River was signed, but India is accused of regularly violating it.
India’s arbitrary control of water by building dams and barrages on nearly all the common rivers impacts the rivers’ flow of water in the downstream Bangladesh, bringing adverse consequences for the country’s agriculture-based livelihoods of millions of people. Such impacts are most pronounced, among other areas, in the northern districts, known as Bangladesh’s rice basket, caused chiefly by the Gazaldoba barrage raised on the Teesta River in the Brahmaputra basin in the Indian state of West Bengal, triggering drought every summer and waves of floods every monsoon.
Even the latest spell of flash flood that lasted for nine days until Tuesday was partly compounded by India reportedly releasing water from its hydroelectric project in Dumboor in Tripura following a spell of extreme rainfall in the Indian state.
At least four other barrages built within 52km of Bangladesh on the Muhuri, Gumti, Khowai and Manu rivers have caused the latest flash flood, while the public perception in Bangladesh is that the Indian authority opened the barrages following the heavy rain spell.
‘India never shares any information with us other than the water levels in the eight common rivers despite our repeated requests,’ said Mohammad Abul Hossen, member, Joint River Commission, referring to the Ganges, Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar, Brahmaputra, Manu, Gumati and Kusiyara.
The consensus to share information about the water levels in these rivers twice a day was reached in the 3rd meeting of the commission after its commencement five decades ago.
Abul Hossen said that India constructed over 100 obstructions in the Ganges River alone without ever caring to inform Bangladesh for its consent or bothering to provide information about the infrastructure, such as warning before the opening of dams’ gates.
India even never shares information on opening the gates at the Farrakka Barrage, which is only 18km from Bangladesh in the Ganges basin though there is a water sharing agreement on the river signed in 1996.
‘India ignored for long our request of information on dams and barrages built within 100km of Bangladesh,’ said Abul Hossen.
Flood that supplied nutritious soil was once regarded a blessing for Bangladesh, the world’s largest delta built with silt carried by rivers over millions of years from the great Himalayas, experts said.
But the blessing turned a curse when human interventions of dams, barrages, embankments and other establishments began obstructing the natural course of rivers, according to experts.
For instance, the Teesta has lost its navigability along with the disappearance of 90 per cent of its fish resources as India withholds water from it during summer, reducing the river into a braid of sand beds, interrupted by tiny water pools. Over the last decade, experts have said that researches show fishing as a profession has become almost extinct among people living in the Teesta basin, robbing thousands of their livelihoods.
In monsoon, the Teesta assumes a completely different look overnight after India opens the Gazaldoba barrage, swelling several feet within hours, sweeping away everything in its way—humans, from thatched huts to multi-storey concrete buildings, roads, bridges, standing crops and fish and poultry farms.
People in Bangladesh were accustomed to living with natural riverine flooding and had rice varieties that rose in height keeping up with flood level rise. But sudden release of water leading to several metres of swelling in a day exposes people to an incompatible man-made disaster.
‘India acts as an enemy state considering how it deals with trans-boundary rivers,’ said Tuhin Wadud, director of Riverine People, a knowledge-based civil society movement to restore and conserve rivers, warning, ‘India is pushing Bangladesh on a course of conflict by denying fair share of water.’
‘Before long people will rise against India for destroying Bangladesh’s economy and environment by arbitrarily controlling common rivers,’ he said.
Instances are there of common rivers swelling four metres or even higher in a day in the past, indicating a sudden surge in the supply of water, Tuhin Wadud said.
Salinity moved inland, especially down the Padma River, affecting biodiversity and agriculture, since the Farakka barrage was built, experts said, explaining that the vacuum created by the withdrawal of freshwater gets filled with saline water, particularly amidst the sea level rising.
Saline water intrusion downstream the Padma River has been so intense that it paved way for an acute drinking water crisis across many districts where people travel miles to get a pitcher of drinking water.
‘International laws treat rivers as a resource that must not be divided and taken care of all along its course,’ said Md Khalequzzaman, who teaches geology at the Lock Haven University in the US.
‘The premise of international laws is equitable, just and fair share of water and sediment in rivers,’ he said.
The UN convention on the law of the non-navigational uses of international watercourses affirms the importance of being a good neighbour in using international watercourse in an equitable and reasonable manner.
The convention recognises the importance of sharing geographical, ecological, climatic, hydrological, hydrogeological and meteorological information among countries with common rivers for ensuring equitable and reasonable use of watercourses.
The convention prohibits taking any action by a country that can bear social and economic consequences for peoples and other states. The convention allows no harm to rivers and has provision for compensation in such case.
Without informing other countries with adequate technical evidence and environmental impact assessment, a country cannot plan any measure on a common watercourse, the convention says, adding that a certain time for other countries to evaluate the plan must be allowed.
In case of an emergency, which may result in flood in other states, the convention says, the state where the emergency is originating must notify other potentially affected states without delay and by the most expeditious means available.
Any dispute over international watercourse can be negotiated through a third party or taken to the International Court of Justice under the convention containing 37 articles.
‘Bangladesh should immediately ratify international conventions,’ said Khalequzzaman, who was also the current global coordinator of Bangladesh Environment Network, explaining that these legal instruments could be used to exert pressure on India, even it did not ratify the laws.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s convention on the protection and use of trans-boundary watercourses and international lakes says, ‘Water resources shall be managed so that the needs of the present generation are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’
The riparian parties shall cooperate on the basis of equality and reciprocity, the convention says, making it mandatory for the parties to engage in the widest exchange of information, as early as possible.
The convention says a warning system must be in place to share information with parties about a critical situation without any delay. The convention also makes it mandatory for making some information available for free to the public.
The conventions are effective only on countries ratifying them. Successive governments in Bangladesh never took an initiative to ratify the conventions, Khalequzzaman said.
‘It reveals the subservient stance of our politicians. They never dared to anger powerful India to hold onto power,’ said M Inamul Haque, former director general of the Bangladesh Water Development Board.
He also accused government officials in the Joint River Commission and Water Development Board of negligence in carrying out their duties.
‘Government officials were always shy of playing a proactive role in solving the problem. They were busy pleasing their bosses,’ he said.
Emran Hossain 27 August, 2024, 23:40
Bangladesh remains exposed to devastating floods, thanks to India not sharing minimum information on the 54 common rivers, some of them the largest in the world, even after arbitrarily obstructing their courses upstream at numerous locations through dams and barrages.
India only shares the information of the daily water level records of eight of the 54 common rivers, according to the Joint Rivers Commission, the bilateral working group set up by Bangladesh and India in 1972 for the management of the common rivers for mutual benefits.
In more than the five decades since the commission came into being only one major treaty for sharing water in the Ganges River was signed, but India is accused of regularly violating it.
India’s arbitrary control of water by building dams and barrages on nearly all the common rivers impacts the rivers’ flow of water in the downstream Bangladesh, bringing adverse consequences for the country’s agriculture-based livelihoods of millions of people. Such impacts are most pronounced, among other areas, in the northern districts, known as Bangladesh’s rice basket, caused chiefly by the Gazaldoba barrage raised on the Teesta River in the Brahmaputra basin in the Indian state of West Bengal, triggering drought every summer and waves of floods every monsoon.
Even the latest spell of flash flood that lasted for nine days until Tuesday was partly compounded by India reportedly releasing water from its hydroelectric project in Dumboor in Tripura following a spell of extreme rainfall in the Indian state.
At least four other barrages built within 52km of Bangladesh on the Muhuri, Gumti, Khowai and Manu rivers have caused the latest flash flood, while the public perception in Bangladesh is that the Indian authority opened the barrages following the heavy rain spell.
‘India never shares any information with us other than the water levels in the eight common rivers despite our repeated requests,’ said Mohammad Abul Hossen, member, Joint River Commission, referring to the Ganges, Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar, Brahmaputra, Manu, Gumati and Kusiyara.
The consensus to share information about the water levels in these rivers twice a day was reached in the 3rd meeting of the commission after its commencement five decades ago.
Abul Hossen said that India constructed over 100 obstructions in the Ganges River alone without ever caring to inform Bangladesh for its consent or bothering to provide information about the infrastructure, such as warning before the opening of dams’ gates.
India even never shares information on opening the gates at the Farrakka Barrage, which is only 18km from Bangladesh in the Ganges basin though there is a water sharing agreement on the river signed in 1996.
‘India ignored for long our request of information on dams and barrages built within 100km of Bangladesh,’ said Abul Hossen.
Flood that supplied nutritious soil was once regarded a blessing for Bangladesh, the world’s largest delta built with silt carried by rivers over millions of years from the great Himalayas, experts said.
But the blessing turned a curse when human interventions of dams, barrages, embankments and other establishments began obstructing the natural course of rivers, according to experts.
For instance, the Teesta has lost its navigability along with the disappearance of 90 per cent of its fish resources as India withholds water from it during summer, reducing the river into a braid of sand beds, interrupted by tiny water pools. Over the last decade, experts have said that researches show fishing as a profession has become almost extinct among people living in the Teesta basin, robbing thousands of their livelihoods.
In monsoon, the Teesta assumes a completely different look overnight after India opens the Gazaldoba barrage, swelling several feet within hours, sweeping away everything in its way—humans, from thatched huts to multi-storey concrete buildings, roads, bridges, standing crops and fish and poultry farms.
People in Bangladesh were accustomed to living with natural riverine flooding and had rice varieties that rose in height keeping up with flood level rise. But sudden release of water leading to several metres of swelling in a day exposes people to an incompatible man-made disaster.
‘India acts as an enemy state considering how it deals with trans-boundary rivers,’ said Tuhin Wadud, director of Riverine People, a knowledge-based civil society movement to restore and conserve rivers, warning, ‘India is pushing Bangladesh on a course of conflict by denying fair share of water.’
‘Before long people will rise against India for destroying Bangladesh’s economy and environment by arbitrarily controlling common rivers,’ he said.
Instances are there of common rivers swelling four metres or even higher in a day in the past, indicating a sudden surge in the supply of water, Tuhin Wadud said.
Salinity moved inland, especially down the Padma River, affecting biodiversity and agriculture, since the Farakka barrage was built, experts said, explaining that the vacuum created by the withdrawal of freshwater gets filled with saline water, particularly amidst the sea level rising.
Saline water intrusion downstream the Padma River has been so intense that it paved way for an acute drinking water crisis across many districts where people travel miles to get a pitcher of drinking water.
‘International laws treat rivers as a resource that must not be divided and taken care of all along its course,’ said Md Khalequzzaman, who teaches geology at the Lock Haven University in the US.
‘The premise of international laws is equitable, just and fair share of water and sediment in rivers,’ he said.
The UN convention on the law of the non-navigational uses of international watercourses affirms the importance of being a good neighbour in using international watercourse in an equitable and reasonable manner.
The convention recognises the importance of sharing geographical, ecological, climatic, hydrological, hydrogeological and meteorological information among countries with common rivers for ensuring equitable and reasonable use of watercourses.
The convention prohibits taking any action by a country that can bear social and economic consequences for peoples and other states. The convention allows no harm to rivers and has provision for compensation in such case.
Without informing other countries with adequate technical evidence and environmental impact assessment, a country cannot plan any measure on a common watercourse, the convention says, adding that a certain time for other countries to evaluate the plan must be allowed.
In case of an emergency, which may result in flood in other states, the convention says, the state where the emergency is originating must notify other potentially affected states without delay and by the most expeditious means available.
Any dispute over international watercourse can be negotiated through a third party or taken to the International Court of Justice under the convention containing 37 articles.
‘Bangladesh should immediately ratify international conventions,’ said Khalequzzaman, who was also the current global coordinator of Bangladesh Environment Network, explaining that these legal instruments could be used to exert pressure on India, even it did not ratify the laws.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s convention on the protection and use of trans-boundary watercourses and international lakes says, ‘Water resources shall be managed so that the needs of the present generation are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’
The riparian parties shall cooperate on the basis of equality and reciprocity, the convention says, making it mandatory for the parties to engage in the widest exchange of information, as early as possible.
The convention says a warning system must be in place to share information with parties about a critical situation without any delay. The convention also makes it mandatory for making some information available for free to the public.
The conventions are effective only on countries ratifying them. Successive governments in Bangladesh never took an initiative to ratify the conventions, Khalequzzaman said.
‘It reveals the subservient stance of our politicians. They never dared to anger powerful India to hold onto power,’ said M Inamul Haque, former director general of the Bangladesh Water Development Board.
He also accused government officials in the Joint River Commission and Water Development Board of negligence in carrying out their duties.
‘Government officials were always shy of playing a proactive role in solving the problem. They were busy pleasing their bosses,’ he said.
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Dhaka must shore up sharing common river info with Delhi
INDIA’S denial to convey minimum information on the 54 common rivers that it shares with Bangladesh and its arbitrarily obstructing water flow on numerous locations upstream with dams and barrages have all along exposed Bangladesh to devastating flooding. Such controls of dams and barrages...
www.newagebd.net
Dhaka must shore up sharing common river info with Delhi
29 August, 2024, 00:00
INDIA’S denial to convey minimum information on the 54 common rivers that it shares with Bangladesh and its arbitrarily obstructing water flow on numerous locations upstream with dams and barrages have all along exposed Bangladesh to devastating flooding. Such controls of dams and barrages upstream in contravention of the international laws have negatively affected the water flow of the rivers downstream, leaving an adverse impact on agriculture and fishing in Bangladesh. The situation also triggers droughts during the dry season when India holds water and waves of flooding during the monsoon season when India opens the stop gates. One such continued happening is the River Teesta which causes drought, gradually leading to the desertification of Bangladesh’s north, and almost routinely causes flooding as India controls the water flow of the river in the Brahmaputra basin with its Gazaldoba barrage upstream. Even in the latest spell of flooding, India’s reported release of water from its hydroelectric project at Dumboor in Tripura amidst a spell of extreme rainfall is said to have compounded the situation. India is also alleged not to have conveyed information on the release of water to Bangladesh authorities in time.
India shares with Bangladesh only information on water levels of eight common rivers, as the Joint River Commission that was set up in 1972 for common river management to mutual benefits says, keeping to the consensus reached at the third meeting of the commission after its beginning five decades ago. India has constructed more than a hundred structures on the Ganges alone without ever having cared to seek Bangladesh’s consent or to provide Bangladesh with information on the structures. India has not also shared information on the management of the stop gates on the Farakka Barrage, erected on the Ganges basin only 18 kilometres off Bangladesh despite having a sharing agreement on the water of the river since 1996. India is even additionally blamed for having regularly violated the agreement. International laws, which treat rivers as a resource that must be taken care of all along its course and must not be divided, could be a remedy as they are premised on an equitable, just and fair share of water and sediment in rivers. The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses prohibits any action by a country that can bear social and economic consequences for peoples and other states. But Bangladesh has yet to ratify the international convention, which experts say has happened because of subservient policies of successive governments which became highly capitualistic towards India during the authoritarian regime of the Awami League, which was overthrown through a student-mass uprising on August 5.
Bangladesh must, in such a situation, shore up issues of the sharing of information on common rivers with India. It must also ratify the international convention related to international watercourses paving the way for a legal remedy of the situation. It must also see whether Joint River Commission and Water Development Board officials have been negligent in carrying out the duty.
29 August, 2024, 00:00
INDIA’S denial to convey minimum information on the 54 common rivers that it shares with Bangladesh and its arbitrarily obstructing water flow on numerous locations upstream with dams and barrages have all along exposed Bangladesh to devastating flooding. Such controls of dams and barrages upstream in contravention of the international laws have negatively affected the water flow of the rivers downstream, leaving an adverse impact on agriculture and fishing in Bangladesh. The situation also triggers droughts during the dry season when India holds water and waves of flooding during the monsoon season when India opens the stop gates. One such continued happening is the River Teesta which causes drought, gradually leading to the desertification of Bangladesh’s north, and almost routinely causes flooding as India controls the water flow of the river in the Brahmaputra basin with its Gazaldoba barrage upstream. Even in the latest spell of flooding, India’s reported release of water from its hydroelectric project at Dumboor in Tripura amidst a spell of extreme rainfall is said to have compounded the situation. India is also alleged not to have conveyed information on the release of water to Bangladesh authorities in time.
India shares with Bangladesh only information on water levels of eight common rivers, as the Joint River Commission that was set up in 1972 for common river management to mutual benefits says, keeping to the consensus reached at the third meeting of the commission after its beginning five decades ago. India has constructed more than a hundred structures on the Ganges alone without ever having cared to seek Bangladesh’s consent or to provide Bangladesh with information on the structures. India has not also shared information on the management of the stop gates on the Farakka Barrage, erected on the Ganges basin only 18 kilometres off Bangladesh despite having a sharing agreement on the water of the river since 1996. India is even additionally blamed for having regularly violated the agreement. International laws, which treat rivers as a resource that must be taken care of all along its course and must not be divided, could be a remedy as they are premised on an equitable, just and fair share of water and sediment in rivers. The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses prohibits any action by a country that can bear social and economic consequences for peoples and other states. But Bangladesh has yet to ratify the international convention, which experts say has happened because of subservient policies of successive governments which became highly capitualistic towards India during the authoritarian regime of the Awami League, which was overthrown through a student-mass uprising on August 5.
Bangladesh must, in such a situation, shore up issues of the sharing of information on common rivers with India. It must also ratify the international convention related to international watercourses paving the way for a legal remedy of the situation. It must also see whether Joint River Commission and Water Development Board officials have been negligent in carrying out the duty.
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Integrated joint management of 54 rivers must to save Bangladesh from disasters: International Farakka Committee
The International Farakka Committee (IFC) has called for an agreement for integrated joint management of all rivers shared with India in view of the devastating floods that have hit the southeast, east, northeast and north regions of Bangladesh, affecting hundreds of millions of people. In a joint
Integrated joint management of 54 rivers must to save Bangladesh from disasters: International Farakka Committee
UNB
Published :
Aug 29, 2024 21:57
Updated :
Aug 29, 2024 21:57
The International Farakka Committee (IFC) has called for an agreement for integrated joint management of all rivers shared with India in view of the devastating floods that have hit the southeast, east, northeast and north regions of Bangladesh, affecting hundreds of millions of people.
In a joint statement, the IFC leaders said that this time the Ministry of External Affairs of India has given an explanatory reply after many days to the allegations of the unusual floods in Gumti and the opening of the sluice gates of the Farakka Barrage.
Regarding Gumti, they said the opening of the gates of Dumbur Dam in Tripura cannot be blamed for severe floods caused by heavy rains. On the other hand, regarding the Ganga, they said that opening the gates of the Farakka Barrage and releasing the flood water caused by heavy rain upstream into the ‘Ganga/Padma’ river is a normal development during the wet season.
There was no statement about the Teesta, although two or three waves of severe floods in the basin of this river cause not only crop loss in Bangladesh every monsoon, but thousands of families are also left homeless due to the breach of the banks.
However, during the dry season, the entire Teesta water is being diverted from West Bengal’s Gazal Doba Barrage.
On the Gumti floods, India’s think tank, SANDRP (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People), said the flood would have been less severe had the release of water from the reservoir above Tripura’s Dumbur dam started at least two days before the water level crossed the danger level.
In this regard, they have raised the question of negligence or human error. Moreover, it was not possible to transmit flood warning messages for two days due to the lack of electricity in the water measuring station located downstream of the dam due to the flood. That means Bangladesh did not receive the warning message on time.
The IFC said that this flood disaster was not only caused by global warming but also by negligence/error in taking timely action.
The only way to reduce the disaster in the downstream country as a result of such human error in the upstream country is joint management from the origin of the river to its outfall into the sea. This is the opinion of all water experts in the world today.
Of the 54 shared rivers that flow through Bangladesh and India, there is an agreement only on the Ganges, that too on the basis of an outdated notion of water sharing at the border. The agreement will expire in 2026.
The two countries have been talking about an agreement on the Teesta for the past 13 years. But practically nothing happens.
The situation is such that Bangladesh has to take flood water in monsoon, but it has no right to water in the dry season. International law does not support this.
The IFC leaders have called on the Bangladesh government to take initiatives for integrated basin-wide joint management of 54 rivers to save the country from disasters.
The joint statement was signed by IFC New York Chairman Sayed Tipu Sultan, General Secretary Mohammad Hossain Khan and Organizing Secretary Ataur Rahman Ata; IFC Bangladesh President Prof. Dr Jasim Uddin Ahmad, General Secretary Syed Irfanul Bari and IFC Coordinator Mostafa Kamal Majumder.
UNB
Published :
Aug 29, 2024 21:57
Updated :
Aug 29, 2024 21:57
The International Farakka Committee (IFC) has called for an agreement for integrated joint management of all rivers shared with India in view of the devastating floods that have hit the southeast, east, northeast and north regions of Bangladesh, affecting hundreds of millions of people.
In a joint statement, the IFC leaders said that this time the Ministry of External Affairs of India has given an explanatory reply after many days to the allegations of the unusual floods in Gumti and the opening of the sluice gates of the Farakka Barrage.
Regarding Gumti, they said the opening of the gates of Dumbur Dam in Tripura cannot be blamed for severe floods caused by heavy rains. On the other hand, regarding the Ganga, they said that opening the gates of the Farakka Barrage and releasing the flood water caused by heavy rain upstream into the ‘Ganga/Padma’ river is a normal development during the wet season.
There was no statement about the Teesta, although two or three waves of severe floods in the basin of this river cause not only crop loss in Bangladesh every monsoon, but thousands of families are also left homeless due to the breach of the banks.
However, during the dry season, the entire Teesta water is being diverted from West Bengal’s Gazal Doba Barrage.
On the Gumti floods, India’s think tank, SANDRP (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People), said the flood would have been less severe had the release of water from the reservoir above Tripura’s Dumbur dam started at least two days before the water level crossed the danger level.
In this regard, they have raised the question of negligence or human error. Moreover, it was not possible to transmit flood warning messages for two days due to the lack of electricity in the water measuring station located downstream of the dam due to the flood. That means Bangladesh did not receive the warning message on time.
The IFC said that this flood disaster was not only caused by global warming but also by negligence/error in taking timely action.
The only way to reduce the disaster in the downstream country as a result of such human error in the upstream country is joint management from the origin of the river to its outfall into the sea. This is the opinion of all water experts in the world today.
Of the 54 shared rivers that flow through Bangladesh and India, there is an agreement only on the Ganges, that too on the basis of an outdated notion of water sharing at the border. The agreement will expire in 2026.
The two countries have been talking about an agreement on the Teesta for the past 13 years. But practically nothing happens.
The situation is such that Bangladesh has to take flood water in monsoon, but it has no right to water in the dry season. International law does not support this.
The IFC leaders have called on the Bangladesh government to take initiatives for integrated basin-wide joint management of 54 rivers to save the country from disasters.
The joint statement was signed by IFC New York Chairman Sayed Tipu Sultan, General Secretary Mohammad Hossain Khan and Organizing Secretary Ataur Rahman Ata; IFC Bangladesh President Prof. Dr Jasim Uddin Ahmad, General Secretary Syed Irfanul Bari and IFC Coordinator Mostafa Kamal Majumder.
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