Farakka barrage and flood
Nowadays, farkka issue is a big problem for Bangladesh and west Bengal, India. A large section of Bangladesh’s people has been exhibiting strong anti-India sentiments over the past few years, owing mostly to the public perception that India was helping Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime hold power by hook or crook. After floods in northeast India’s Tripura state spilled over to Bangladesh on August 21, India quickly emerged as the villain.
The interim government in Bangladesh and its political establishment blamed India for releasing water from a dam in Tripura without notifying Bangladesh, while students staged protests on many university campuses chanting anti-India slogans.
“India displayed inhumanity by opening the dam without warning,” Nahid Islam, one of the two student representatives in Bangladesh’s interim government headed by Peace Nobel Laureate economist Muhammad Yunus, told journalists in Dhaka.
India and Bangladesh share 54 transboundary rivers, including the Ganga (Padma), Teesta, and Brahmaputra
Teesta water sharing has long been an issue of conflict and tension between India and Bangladesh. The Diplomat had earlier reported how China was trying to utilize to its advantage India’s indecisiveness in accepting Bangladesh’s Teesta water-sharing proposals due to India’s internal compulsions.
Islam’s comments hold weight, as he was one of the key organizers of the student protests that overthrew Hasina’s 15-year rule a fortnight ago. He currently heads the Information Technology Ministry.
“We have seen concerns being expressed in Bangladesh that the current situation of flood in districts on the eastern borders of Bangladesh has been caused by the opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura. This is factually not correct,” the MEA said.
The statement said that the catchment areas of the Gumti river that flows through India and Bangladesh “witnessed heaviest rains of this year over the last few days” and that the
flood in Bangladesh is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam.
The statement said that the Dumbur dam is located over 120 kilometers upstream of Bangladesh and is a low-height dam, about 30 meters tall. In the event of heavy flow, water is released automatically. India kept notifying Bangladesh about the trend of rising water levels until 3 p.m. on August 21, but a power outage due to the flooding at around 6 p.m. snapped all communications.
The statement highlighted river water cooperation as “an important part of our bilateral engagement” and stressed that India remains committed “to resolving issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions.”
In the evening, Pranay Verma, the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, met Yunus. Some of India’s leading English dailies initially reported that Verma had been summoned, but the Bangladesh media reported it as a courtesy call.
According to people in Dhaka familiar with the developments, Verma proactively met Yunus to address the complications created by misinformation. He also raised the issue of security of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
During the meeting, Yunus proposed forming a high-level committee between Bangladesh and India to manage floods jointly, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sanstha, the state-run news agency. The agency said Yunus hoped that disputes over water-sharing of transboundary rivers would be resolved soon.