The government cancelled construction of the proposed Ganges Barrage Project at Pangsha in Rajbari district, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud on Wednesday said.
Anisul came up with the remarks after a meeting with a Chinese delegation led by Water Resources Minister Chen Lei at his Secretariat in the city.
The design of the proposed Ganges Barrage has been cancelled, as it was faulty. India and officials concerned have already been asked to look for another site of the barrage over a tributary of the cross-boundary river.
“A high-powered committee will be formed to find an alternative option,” the Minister told journalists at a briefing.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a press conference on her just-concluded India visit termed the Ganges Barrage Project as a suicidal project like the Teesta Barrage.
Replying to a query Anisul Islam Mahmud said there is no difference of opinion over the necessity of the proposed Ganges Barrage construction project.
“It will be redesigned. As question has been raised about the project, its site will also be spotted. And the proposed Ganges Barrage construction project will be implemented,” the Water Resources Minister said.
He said they would start conducting a fresh survey for the construction of the Ganges Barrage.
“After being redesigned, the barrage would be constructed jointly by Bangladesh and India and that too as per Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instruction across a tributary of the Ganges River to set up a reservoir to preserve monsoon water for lean period.” The Ganges Barrage Project is a proposed project in Bangladesh to hold back rain water of the monsoon season because of the periodic drying up of the Ganges River basin in Bangladesh due to the Farakka Barrage.
The government was expecting a breakthrough in the construction of Ganges Barrage on the Bangladesh side of the Padma River and the deadlock for signing of the Teesta water sharing deal during the PM’s India trip.
The proposed Ganges Barrage Project was scheduled to be a 165 km long reservoir stretching from Rajbari to Chapainawabganj districts in Bangladesh, with a depth of 12.5 m. It is supposed to hold a phenomenal 2.9 billion cubic litres and its cost was estimated to be Tk 314 billion.
The south-western region of Bangladesh would benefit greatly from this project from generating about 100 megawatts (130,000 hp) of electricity and 250,000 tonnes of fish.
In April 1975, India commissioned the Farakka Barrage to divert the Ganges waters for flushing the Kolkata port.
India’s withdrawal of the Ganges waters from the upstream using the Farakka Barrage drastically reduced the river’s water flows into lower riparian Bangladesh adversely affecting its agriculture, fishery, forestry, navigation as well as industrial growth.
Salinity intrusion deep inside Bangladesh due to the low flow in the Ganges also poses threat to the biodiversity of the Sunderbans, a World Heritage Site.
