UNB :
Leaders of the International Farakka Committee (IFC) have extended their support to the government’s initiative to implement the Teesta master plan with Chinese support, saying it is a proper and timely move.
Expressing their grave concerns over the recent flooding, the IFC said an untimely flood disaster along the Teesta in Bangladesh has caused extensive damages to the property of hundreds of thousands of people with its two banks.
Thousands of dwelling houses and homesteads have been washed away with riverbank erosion. Standing crops on hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been damaged while roads and embankments have been eroded snapping road-links among the districts of the greater Rangpur region.
“Although this project is no substitute for keeping the river alive by ensuring its natural flow, it’s expected to help reduce the damages caused by floods and help improve the lot of the people of the region through coordinated development activities. The river will get a new life when time will come to restore its natural flow,” the IFC statement said.
The committee said the disaster has been caused by the discharge of floodwater through the Gajoldoba Barrage floodgates following excessive rainfall along the upper catchment of the Teesta in Sikkim.
Embankments at about 17 places in the upper Teesta were damaged by the floods. But the Bangladesh authorities were not alerted before releasing the water. Only two weeks before, the Teesta in Bangladesh was a dry barren land as all water was diverted from Gajoldoba Barrage in West Bengal, added the statement.
The Teesta river in Bangladesh is a dead river during the dry season. Despite repeated assurances, no treaty has been signed for the management of the river’s water. People now can walk on foot from one bank of the river to the other, according to the statement.
Only seepage from the Gajoldoba Barrage flows into Bangladesh. During the monsoon, the river causes disastrous floods, the statement pointed out.
