Dhaka: Bangladesh on Wednesday authorized a mega job to construct a barrage on the Padma river, stating the structure is anticipated to assist “negate the negative impact” of India’s Farakka Barrage upstream.
The advancement comes months before the 1996 Indo-Bangladesh Ganges Water Sharing Treaty is because of end in December. Padma river is called Ganges in India.
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The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, cleared the very first stage of the Padma Barrage task at an approximated expense of Tk 34,497.25 crore (approx USD 280 million), authorities here stated.
Among the primary goals of the task is to save water on the Bangladesh side to “negate the negative impact of the Farakka Barrage” on the Ganges, Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee informed press reporters after the ECNEC conference.
He, nevertheless, clarified that problems associating with the 54 typical rivers shared by India and Bangladesh are not connected to the task.
The minister stated the barrage is being integrated in Bangladesh’s nationwide interest and did not need any conversation with India.
“Padma Barrage is a matter of Bangladesh’s own interest and there is no need for any discussion with India over the issue,” he stated.
Anee, nevertheless, stated conversations with India on the Ganges waters are continuing.
India commissioned the 2,240-metre-long Farakka Barrage in West Bengal in 1975 to divert water from the Ganges into the Hooghly river in order to eliminate silt and preserve the navigability of the Kolkata port.
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The Farakka problem has actually long stayed a delicate topic in Bangladesh, with succeeding federal governments and specialists declaring that lowered dry-season water streams downstream triggered salinity invasion, river destruction and negative results on farming and ecology in Bangladesh.
India has actually regularly preserved that the Farakka Barrage was developed mainly to protect the Kolkata port which water-sharing concerns have actually been attended to through bilateral systems and contracts, consisting of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty in between the 2 nations.
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