Why does Bangladesh need the Ganges Barrage?

The construc-tion of the Farakka Barrage by India at 18 km from the Bangladesh border is an ill-conceived project. The then Irrigation Engineer of West Bengal, Kapil Banerjee, opposed it  for  diverting huge quantities of water from the Ganges to flush  the silt  of the Hooghly River to save the Kolkata port. He eventually lost his job. 

Later, Indian water experts, attending a seminar in Kathmandu in 2004, held that Kapil Banerjee was right because it caused devastating effects on the flow of the Ganges in Bangladesh but also badly affected crops in the vast areas of West Bengal. Recently, Direndranath Sambbhu, MP of the Indian Parliament, reportedly confirmed the damage done to West Bengal due to the Farakka Barrage.

With huge quantity of water from Farakka Barrage being diverted, the Gorai River in Bangladesh is now covered with silts at the Kumarkhali Railway bridge. This is because the flow of the river towards Bangladesh drops suddenly in October, leading to silting up the off-take of Gorai River. According to water experts, 123 rivers in Bangladesh  have died around the area.

To offset the adverse effects of the Farakka Barage, in 1963, an American consultancy firm Tippetts Abbett McCarthy Stratton (TAMS) proposed constructing the Ganges Barrage at a location 3 km downstream of the Gorai River in Bangladesh. 

In 1981, the proposed site was reportedly changed to a location 4 km downstream of Pakshey Railway Bridge (Hardinge). In 1986, considering possible backwater affecting the Indian territory, the site was shifted to a further down stream near Habashpur, Rajbari. In 2001, the site was changed and was selected for the Ganges Barrage near Thakurbari of Kushtia after a study on the Padma Dependant Area.  

If the Ganges Barrage is built, it is estimated that an additional 2.6 million tonnes of food grains would be produced and 240,000 tonnes of fish would be available. Furthermore, the Ganges Barrage would have provided more water to the river near the Rooppur Nuclear Plant, being constructed in Pabna with Russian assistance.

For the construction of the Ganges Barrage, water experts say that India's support is required. During the visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Prime Minister Hasina invited India's cooperation in jointly developing the Ganges Barrage on the river Padma in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Modi conveyed that he would have the matter examined by the concerned agencies in India. 

The response from the Indian Prime Minister, many in Bangladesh contend, means that the Ganges Barrage may not be able to see its fruition in the near future because the examination of the Indian agencies (it would have been preferable to include Bangladesh agencies in the examination) has no time-limit by which it would be concluded.  

This being the case, water experts believe that India failed to appreciate the urgency of the construction of the Ganges Barrage because Bangladesh needs to rejuvenate dying rivers in the area. Bangladesh suffers a loss of Tk. 30,000 crore annually because of India's unilateral withdrawal of water upstream, according to an estimate by some environmentalists and river water experts in Bangladesh. Due to insufficient water flow from India, Bangladesh is facing severe losses in crop production, fisheries, aquatics, as well as the intrusion of salinity and degradation of environment and forests over the years. 

Meanwhile, it has been reported that India plans to build 16 new dams on the Ganges River between Varanasi and Hooghly. The 16 proposed dams reportedly would convert the Ganges "into 16 huge ponds". Such dams would further deplete water downstream to Bangladesh and may turn the riverine country into a veritable wasteland.

Bangladesh has decided to push for a fair and comprehensive solution to the sharing of water, not only of the Teesta but of all the 54 common rivers with India. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Indian PM Modi that Bangladesh expected India to settle the water sharing issues of all common rivers in a spirit of accommodation and fairness.

Prime Minister Modi poetically described in a speech in Dhaka that birds, air and water flow uninterrupted as they do not recognise borders. Let his idea turn into reality in water sharing of all trans-boundary rivers to further strengthen the bonds of our bilateral relationship.

The writer is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.