Ehsanul Haque Jasim :The latest Indian move to interlink river project at the upper reaches of four trans-boundary rivers will bring serious adverse impacts on Bangladesh. Sources said that India has unilaterally taken the move ignoring Bangladesh. Environmentalists, river and water experts expressed concern over India’s fresh move. They said that vast areas of Bangladesh would turn into desert if the project was implemented, as it will diminish water flow of several major rivers in Bangladesh, including the Padma, Jamuna and the Teesta. They also said that the neighbouring country’s controversial project would be dearly a violation of the ‘International River Law’ and given pledges. India assured Bangladesh of not taking any project on trans-boundary rivers that would affect Bangladesh’s interest, without consultations. But the neighbouring country has unilaterally announced that it would soon take up the task of connecting the rivers- Teesta, Ganga, Manas and Sankosh- covering its three states- Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. Indian Water Resources Minister Sanwar Lal Jat made the announcement in New Delhi on July 13, reports Indian media. The minister said that they had the plan to start the construction work by the end of this year. The project is part of interlinking 30 rivers conceived during the tenure of Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999-2004). Observes said that Indian sudden announcement of the unilateral decision would further affect India’s credibility as a good neighbour, as the issue of sharing the Teesta waters remained unresolved for decades.Expressing concern over the project, water expert Prof Ainun Nishat said that the inter river-linking project would definitely diminish the water flow of the different Bangladesh’s rivers, if India diverts water from the common rivers through the project. He also said that the Indian move is unfortunate, unjust and unilateral. It will leave Bangladesh dry. “It is not a technical but a political decision. The issue of sharing the waters of the common rivers should be resolved politically,” he said.Ainun Nishat, also a former member of the Joint River Commission (JRC), is of the opinion that India should involve the other basin countries before interlinking Manas and Sankosh, as Manas is the largest river system of Bhutan and its basin countries-are China and India, while Sankosh rises in the northern Bhutan and falls into the Brahmaputra in Assam.The main tributaries of the Manas originate in the north of the Himalayas. The Manas flows through Bhutan for 272 km and then through Assam for 104 km before it becomes a tributary of the Brahmaputra.Prof Dr Abdur Rab of Geography and Environment Science Department of Dhaka University said that the project, if implemented, would hit hard the ecology and biodiversity of lower riparian Bangladesh and the livelihoods of its people. The project will also hit interests of some parts of the concerned states of India, he added. Mir Sazzad Hossain, JRC member, said that India must not suppose to divert water from any of the Himalayan river without the consent of Bangladesh. Abdul Matin, General Secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA), said that India had already made some progress in connecting the Teesta with the Ganges through the Mahananda River. “Many environmentalists in India don’t support this controversial project. If the Indian government really tries to implement the plan, Bangladeshi environmentalists will launch a movement against this controversial project,” he said. Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud said, the Indian government is yet to talk to the Bangladesh government before taking the mega plan. He informed that the government would send a letter to the India Water Resources Ministry seeking an explanation in this regard. He also said that they had drafted the letter and already sent it to the Foreign Ministry to forward it to the authorities concerned of India. The minister, however, said that as per the agreements signed between Bangladesh and India, the neighbouring country couldn’t go ahead with such a move.The BNP has asked the government to take the initiative of stopping the harmful project. The party’s current spokesman and its International Affairs Secretary Dr Asaduzzaman Ripon made the call in a press briefing at the party’s central office in the city on Wednesday. He said that the Bangladesh would be affected seriously if the project was implemented. India and Bangladesh are co-riparian countries while there are 54 common rivers. In the Joint Declaration issued from the two capitals on June 7 marking the Indian prime minister’s visit to Bangladesh, Narendra Modi reiterated the earlier commitment that India would not take any unilateral decision on the Himalayan component of their River Interlinking Project which might affect Bangladesh.”As per the joint communiqué signed between the two prime ministers of Bangladesh and India in 2010, the trans-boundary rivers would be managed basin-wide and that India cannot do it alone,” said Mir Sazzad Hossain.
