Nat'l consensus a must to face challenge

The national workshop on Indian River Linking Project was organised by Bangladesh People's Initiative against River Linking at the IDB Bhaban.

"That India does not entertain a third party's role is a serious problem in resolving the water dispute," said the Editor of the New Age Enayetullah Khan who presided over the inaugural session.

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If coordinated efforts are not made both at government and non-government levels, Bangladesh will have to accept the same fate as it met in the case of Farakka barrage, he said.

As the project poses a serious threat to Bangladesh's existence, the government along with the civil society has to immediately raise the issue at international forum, said Dr Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University in his paper.

Diversion of the natural flow of Ganges and Brahmaputra water depriving Bangladesh of its share would mean violation of articles three and nine of the Ganges Water Treaty, he said.

Barrister Ziaur Rahman MP, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, said, "It seems useless to argue with a vast country like India that usually takes decision disregarding its neighbour's woes."

Terming the project as a big challenge to Bangladesh, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdullah Al Noman said we need national consensus.

Dr Ainun Nishat, Bangladesh Representative of IUCN, said whatever share of the Ganges, Bangladesh gets at Hardinge Bridge point, is just the residual flow and once Brahmaputra water is diverted, country's agriculture, fisheries, ecology and livelihood will face devastation.

Sundari trees at Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, are dying out fast because of high salinity thanks to adverse impact of Farakka barrage, he said.

Once implemented, the river linking project will render 1.8 lakh people jobless forcing nine lakh people to hunger and destitution per year, said M Asaduzzaman of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.

Besides, rice production will be reduced by at least one million metric ton annually as 75 percent of the country's total rice production depends on irrigation, he said.

In terms of money, the total loss involving all sectors will amount to Tk 30 billion per year, he added.

Water withdrawal from Brahmaputra will severely affect water supply in Dhaka city, said BUET Prof AKM Zahir Uddin Chowdhury.

"A trans-boundary river basin is a natural configuration which no single country can alter arbitrarily," said Geology Professor Naser Ezazul Huq of Jahangirnagar University.

Bangladesh gets 80 percent of its water supply from the river Brahmaputra during the dry season, he added.