Dried-up Teesta snatches away income

The livelihood of over one lakh people, living in the Teesta river basin areas, has been hit hard as the mighty river has dried up due to a lack of water flow from the upstream.

Moreover, people have to walk miles on the chars, and emerged from the river bed, to go to the mainland.

Locals said about 102 kilometres, out of the 115-kilometre course of the Teesta river flowing inside Bangladesh -- from Lalmonirhat's Teesta Barrage to the river's confluence in Kurigram -- have been completely dried up now.

As a result, thousands of people, who depend on the river, have been struggling to earn their livelihood.

Locals as well as Water Development Board (WDB) officials said except from July to October, the river remains completely dried up for the rest of the year.

Things started to change after India constructed a barrage across the Teesta river at Gazaldoba, about 70km upstream of Bangladesh's Teesta Barrage Irrigation Project at Dalia in Lalmonirhat's Hatibandha upazila, in 1983.

Before that, the average flow of water throughout the river in Bangladesh was 4,000 to 4,500 cusecs (cubic feet per second).

Farmer Rashedul Islam of Char Kalmati village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila said thousands of people living along the Teesta river are dependent on its water.

Due to the unavailability of sufficient water flow farmers have to set up water pumps on the river bed to irrigate their farmlands, he said.

"We have been getting only 1,200 to 1,500 cusecs of water at the Teesta barrage point since January this year, but at least 3,500 cusecs is required around the barrage during this time of the year," said WDB Executive Engineer Dalia Asfa Uddoula.

The flow of water even upstream of the barrage point is quite inadequate, he said.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), due to the unavailability of water in the Teesta river, only 30 percent of the char land of around 20,000 hectares in Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Rangpur and Gaibandha can be irrigated and that too using diesel-run water pumps.

The rest of the 70 percent of sandy land of around 50,000 hectares remains almost barren for most of the time of the year.

Rangpur DAE additional director Mohammad Shah Alam said agriculture has been badly affected in the Teesta river basin areas as the majority of the char lands remain barren due to lack of underground water.

Farmers have to pay Tk 2,500 to Tk 3,000 to irrigate one bigha of land using diesel-run water pumps, he said. Over one lakh people including farmers, boatmen and fishermen depend on the river for their livelihoods, he added.