Implementation Of Water-Sharing Deal For Feni River Ought to Be Accelerated – OpEd

Throughout Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s go to to India in October 2019, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between India and Bangladesh concerning the withdrawal of water from the Feni River. Based on the settlement, India will have the ability to pump 1.82 cusecs (cubic toes per second) of water from the Feni river to alleviate the ingesting water disaster within the Sabroom area of the Indian state of Tripura. However India has not but began withdrawing water from there.

In June, a disagreement arose between the 2 nations over the strategy of withdrawing water from the river. The technical committee of the 2 nations couldn’t decide the placement of the pump for lifting water. India needs them to dig deep wells in the midst of the river and extract water by means of pipes. Bangladesh didn’t agree and proposed to dig wells on the banks of the river and withdraw the water. The matter of putting in the pump has been suspended for now as a result of contradiction. 

Being a lowland nation, many worldwide rivers stream over Bangladesh and fall into the Bay of Bengal. The variety of such transborder rivers is 57. Amongst them, Bangladesh shares 54 joint rivers with India and three with Myanmar. There’s a long-standing difficulty between the 2 nations over the water sharing of those shared rivers.

Probably the most mentioned of those is the Teesta Water Treaty. Because of the building of dams on the Indian facet upstream of the Teesta River, agriculture has been disrupted within the northern area of Bangladesh throughout the dry season for a very long time. Moreover, Teesta has additionally change into a useless river on account of diminished water stream. Yearly, the area is flooded throughout the monsoon. After lengthy negotiations, when the 2 nations lastly agreed on the settlement in 2011, the Congress-led authorities pulled out of it on the eleventh hour as a result of objection of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Nonetheless, throughout the Prime Minister’s final go to to India, an settlement was signed with India concerning the withdrawal of Bangladesh’s water from the cross-border river Kushiara. Based on the settlement, Bangladesh will have the ability to draw 153 cusecs of water by means of the Rahimpur canal originating from Kushiara. This water of Kushiara may be very obligatory for the agriculture of three upazilas (sub-district) of the Sylhet district of Bangladesh. Bangladesh will quickly begin extracting water from Kushiara beneath the water-sharing deal.

Simply as India has agreed to withdraw water to Bangladesh contemplating the wants of Bangladesh, Bangladesh has additionally agreed to present water from the Feni river to India contemplating the wants of them. The water drawn from the river might be used to satisfy the ingesting water wants of the residents of Sabroom city in Tripura. With the assistance of electrical pumps, 1.82 cusecs i.e. 52 liters per second and about 4.5 lakh liters of water might be withdrawn per day. If this water just isn’t accessible, the residents of the town of Tripura will face a scarcity of ingesting water. To handle the disaster, Bangladesh has given India the chance to extract water from humanitarian concerns.

Based on Bangladesh Water Growth Board, 8-10 thousand cusecs of water stream in Feni river throughout the monsoon. The stream decreases to 47 to 50 cusecs throughout the dry season from February to April. Round 60 thousand acres of land in Bangladesh rely upon the water of the Feni river for agriculture. The Muhuri venture, one of many irrigation tasks in Bangladesh, is determined by water from Feni river. In consequence, many individuals consider that if India withdraws water from the Feni River, it is going to trigger a water scarcity for Bangladesh and cut back the navigability of the river. Quickly after the signing of the settlement, the federal government of Bangladesh confronted quite a lot of criticism.

Nonetheless, in keeping with the Ministry of Water Assets, the stream of the river throughout the dry season is 109 cusecs. If 1.82 cusecs of water is given from there, it is going to be 0.23 % of the overall stream. With this water, the ingesting water scarcity of Sabroom metropolis residents might be eradicated. Will probably be established for instance of humanity, which could have a optimistic impression on India-Bangladesh bilateral relations.

Nonetheless, though this small quantity of water has not precipitated any injury to the river’s navigability, in keeping with river specialists, the river’s navigability has decreased as a result of unlawful extraction of water from the river by pumps to irrigate the agricultural lands situated on the no man’s land within the Indian half. The variety of such pumps is claimed to be about 40 within the information revealed as regards to the Border Guard Bangladesh. These pumps are straight lifting water from the river by means of pipes, able to lifting 2 cusecs of water. In consequence, the river alongside the border has narrowed as a result of lower within the stream of water. The operation of the Muhuri irrigation venture is beneath risk.

Based on the technical committee of Bangladesh, if the pump is put in deep within the river, it could be resulted within the erosion of the riverbank and will change the course of the stream in a special course. Bangladesh proposed to dig canals and set up pumps to attract the water, which received’t hurt the common water stream of the river. In consequence, if the settlement is applied instantly contemplating the pursuits of each nations, each side will profit from it. A fast withdrawal of water can even velocity up the answer to the water disaster of the residents of the neighboring city of Sabroom.

Because the northeastern states together with Assam-Tripura are virtually landlocked and remoted from the Indian mainland, the area is comparatively underdeveloped. India depends on Bangladesh to ease the event strategy of this area. Bangladesh had an advantageous place for its geopolitically strategic place, however Bangladesh didn’t use the `Trump Card’. Relatively, for the event of this area, India has created a possibility to ascertain connectivity by highway, railway, and river to ease transportation and communication. Bangladesh-India Friendship Bridge-1 has been constructed in 2021 close to the place designated for the withdrawal of water. By this, alternatives for enterprise and cultural exchanges have been created between individuals on each side of the border. Enhanced cooperation throughout the border will leverage the endeavor. A metropolis’s ingesting water provide by drawing water from the river would take that effort a step additional.