Farakka
Barrage
Farakka Barriage
constructed by India, about 18 km
upstream near Monohorpur, to save
Calcutta Port from silting, but in
the process causing widespread and
devastating effects, especially in
southwestern Bangladesh.
India's unilateral
withdrawal of the ganges water was
not only leading to the destruction
of the ecological and environmental
system of Bangladesh but also posing
a serious threat to sectors such as
agriculture, industry, forestry and
navigation. The issue of the sharing
of Ganges water first came into focus
when on 29 October 1951 the government
of Pakistan drew the attention of
the Indian government to the dangers
of their scheme for diverting a large
amount of dry season flow from the
Ganges to resuscitate the Bhagirathi
river in west bengal. India replied
in 1952 that the project was only
under preliminary investigation and
described Pakistan's concern over
possible effects as purely hypothetical.
Thus began the long
history of negotiations on the sharing
of the Ganges water. In the years
up to 1970, the governments of Pakistan
and India discussed the issue many
times at different levels, starting
from technical experts to the heads
of government. But even as discussions
went on, India kept working on the
construction of the Farakka Barrage,
completing it in 1970, at a place
nearly 18 km upstream of the Bangladesh
border.
After independence
in 1971, the government of Bangladesh
took up the Ganges issue in earnest
with the government of India. The
Indo-Bangladesh joint river commission
(JRC) was constituted in 1972. The
prime ministers of Bangladesh and
India, in a joint declaration on 16
May 1974, expressed their determination
that before the Farakka project would
be commissioned they would arrive
at a mutually acceptable allocation
of the water available during the
periods of minimum flow in the Ganges.
It was agreed in 1974 at the summit
between Bangladesh and India that
the Farakka barrage would not be put
into operation before an agreement
was reached on sharing the dry season
flow of the Ganges between the two
countries. Bangladesh, however, allowed
India in 1975 to test the feeder canal
of the barrage, for which 310-450
cumec of Ganges flow was diverted
from Farakka over the 10-day period
from 21 April to 31 May 1975.
India commissioned
the barrage and continued unilateral
diversion of the Ganges flow beyond
the stipulated period and throughout
the dry season of 1976 for the ostensible
purpose of diverting more than 1130
cumec of dry season flow of this river
into the Bhagirathi-Hughli river of
West Bengal to flush out silt for
improving navigability of Calcutta
port.
Failing to dissuade
India, Bangladesh took the issue to
the United Nations. On 26 November
1976 the UN General Assembly adopted
a consensus statement which inter
alia directed India to sit with Bangladesh
urgently to negotiate a fair and expeditious
settlement of the problem. Several
rounds of discussions followed and
on 5 November 1977 the two countries
signed an agreement for sharing the
dry season flow available at Farakka
for a period of 5 years (1978-82).
In October 1982 the two countries
signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) for sharing the flow during
1983 and 1984.
There was no sharing
of Ganges flow in 1985 in the absence
of any understanding or agreement.
The two countries signed another MOU
in November 1985 for sharing the flow
for three years from 1986 to 1988.
But in the absence of a long-term
agreement, Bangladesh was unable to
undertake any concrete steps for a
meaningful and optimal utilisation
of the Ganges water in different sectors
of its southwestern region.
Since the dry season
of 1989 there was no instrument operative
for sharing the flow. Consequently,
India started to make massive unilateral
diversions of the scarce dry season
flow of this river, causing a drastic
reduction in its flow into Bangladesh.
As a result, Bangladesh received only
261 cumec of water at hardinge bridge
in March 1993 in place of the 1980
cumec which used to flow through this
point in the same month during the
pre-Farakka years.
During the meeting
of the Prime Ministers of the two
countries in May 1992, the Indian
Prime Minister categorically assured
Bangladesh that every possible effort
would be made to share the flow of
the Ganges on an equitable basis to
avoid undue hardships to Bangladesh.
Subsequently, two ministerial levels
and two secretarial level meetings
were held between the two countries.
No sharing agreement, however, emerged.
The Prime Ministers met again in April
1993, but the Indian Prime Minister
was not able to fulfil his pledge
to avoid undue hardships to Bangladesh.
Finally in December 1996, a 30-year
ganges water
sharing Treaty was signed between
Indian and Bangladesh in New Delhi.
Crisis: The massive
withdrawal of dry season Ganges flow
by India had a serious impact on every
sphere of life in the ganges dependent
area of Bangladesh. This man-made
hazard inflicted a crippling blow
to the entire southwestern region
of the country. It forced Bangladesh
to incur massive losses in agriculture,
fisheries, forestry, industry, navigation,
water supply, etc. Direct damage caused
to Bangladesh in these sectors amounted
to about $3 billion. If indirect losses
are taken into account, the amount
would increase significantly.
Hydrology and morphology:
The hydrological and morphological
characteristics of the Ganges and
its distributaries in Bangladesh were
severely impaired during the post-Farakka
years. The flow reduction had caused
excessive siltation, a rise in riverbeds
and consequent reduction of the conveyance
capacity of the river channels, resulting
in aggravated floods during the monsoon.
The offtake of the gorai, the main
distributary of the Ganges in Bangladesh,
got choked every year as early as
January, making this important river
high and dry throughout the dry season.
Salinity: during
the post-Farakka years the advancement
of the saline front in Khulna became
a major cause of concern. The salinity
intrusion, concentration and duration
in the region depended mostly upon
the quantity and duration of upland
flow received in the area. The Gorai-Madhumati
received a very low discharge in the
dry months. As a result, the salinity
and tidal limits penetrated well inside
the country. In 1983, the 500 micro-mhos
(salinity) line reached about 13 km
north of Kamarkhali and up to 300
km inland from the mouth of pasur
river and 17,100 micro-mhos salinity
was also observed at Khulna. A few
scientists recorded 563.75 mg/l chloride
concentration levels in the surface
water of rupsa river in Khulna area,
which indicated the effect on stream
flow salinity due to reduced fresh
water discharge. Moreover, reduction
of fresh water supply during the dry
season caused invasion of salt water
into underground aquifers.
Agriculture: It is
the worst-hit sector. The drastic
fall in water level of the Ganges
during the post-Farakka years seriously
impaired the operation of the pumping
plants of the largest irrigation scheme
in the area, the ganges-kobadak irrigation
project (G-K Project) with more than
121,410 ha under its direct command.
The pumps of this project were forced
either to remain idle or operate with
drastically reduced capacity. Severe
stress in soil moisture, soil salinity,
and non-availability of fresh groundwater
affected agricultural productivity
of the entire southwestern region.
Fisheries Scarcity
of water in the main Ganges and its
distributaries disturbed the flow
pattern, velocity turbidity, total
dissolved solids (TDS) and salinity
levels on which fisheries thrive.
The Gangetic water system supports
over 200 species of freshwater fish
and 18 species of prawns in the area.
Fish catches dwindled and thousands
of fishermen were consequently left
without jobs.
Navigation During
the post-Farakka years the Ganges
flow reduction affected the navigation
sector as well. More than 320 km of
major and medium navigable waterways
were rendered inoperative during the
dry season. As a result, hundreds
of boatmen were thrown out of their
occupation.
Groundwater There
was considerable underwent depletion
in groundwater, with the level falling
in most places by more than 3m. The
water quality was also degraded due
to increased concentrations of total
dissolved solids (TDS), chlorides,
sulphates, etc, affecting agriculture,
industry, domestic and municipal water
supply, and the . itself over a large
area. People were forced to drink
water of 1,200 mg/l TDS, although
the World Health Organisation's prescribed
limit for drinking water is only 500
mg/l. This affected adversely the
overall public health condition.
During the post-Farakka
years the direction of groundwater
movement changed gradually from a
southerly to a northerly direction.
The Ganges was gaining water from
the surrounding groundwater aquifers
for a longer period of the year, ie
from January to July and October to
December while it contributed horizontal
recharge to groundwater aquifers for
only two or three months. Before diversion
of the Ganges water at Farakka, the
surrounding groundwater aquifers would
receive optimum recharge for much
longer periods.
Source: Banglapedia, National Encyclopedia
of Bangladesh
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh