UNB, Dhaka :
Leaders of the International Farakka Committee (IFC) on Friday described excessive floods and acute water scarcity faced by Bangladesh during the rainy and dry seasons respectively as the outcome of an unsustainable river management.
They came up with the observation at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in the city.
The IFC leaders also called for keeping the common Himalayan rivers alive through basinwise integrated management on the basis of regional cooperation so that people of all the riparian countries living along the banks of these rivers can continue to benefit from their services.
They said, people of at least 30 districts out of 64 in Bangladesh have been affected by serious late-monsoon floods due to the onrush of water
of common rivers from across the border and incessant rainfall. Experts say 92 percent of the floodwater comes from the upper catchments of the common rivers while the rest 8 percent got generated from local rainfall and stream flows from hills, they said.
Due to the unplanned construction of a series of dams and barrages at the upper catchments of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna, many small rivers in the subcontinent have started dying up, the leaders observed.
About the share of the Teesta water, they said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has recently been elected a member of an influential UN committee on water, expressing their belief that she will be able to stop the diversion of water of the Teesta river basin to other river basins.
They also added that the transfer of water from one basin to another is prohibited under international law.
IFC Chairman Atiqur Rahman Salu, President of Bangladesh Farakka Committee Prof Jasim Uddin Ahmad and Coordinator of IFC Mostafa Kamal Majumder were present at the press conference.
Leaders of the International Farakka Committee (IFC) on Friday described excessive floods and acute water scarcity faced by Bangladesh during the rainy and dry seasons respectively as the outcome of an unsustainable river management.
They came up with the observation at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in the city.
The IFC leaders also called for keeping the common Himalayan rivers alive through basinwise integrated management on the basis of regional cooperation so that people of all the riparian countries living along the banks of these rivers can continue to benefit from their services.
They said, people of at least 30 districts out of 64 in Bangladesh have been affected by serious late-monsoon floods due to the onrush of water
of common rivers from across the border and incessant rainfall. Experts say 92 percent of the floodwater comes from the upper catchments of the common rivers while the rest 8 percent got generated from local rainfall and stream flows from hills, they said.
Due to the unplanned construction of a series of dams and barrages at the upper catchments of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna, many small rivers in the subcontinent have started dying up, the leaders observed.
About the share of the Teesta water, they said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has recently been elected a member of an influential UN committee on water, expressing their belief that she will be able to stop the diversion of water of the Teesta river basin to other river basins.
They also added that the transfer of water from one basin to another is prohibited under international law.
IFC Chairman Atiqur Rahman Salu, President of Bangladesh Farakka Committee Prof Jasim Uddin Ahmad and Coordinator of IFC Mostafa Kamal Majumder were present at the press conference.
