Remove Farakka barrage', demands Nitish Kumar as flood situation in Bihar turns grim

[kobiraaz]

PATNA: With the rise of water level in Ganga creating flood-like situation in all the districts situated along its banks in Bihar, CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday reiterated his demand to remove Farakka dam. Bihar
CM asked the Centre to remove the dam or come out with a silt management policy.

"Current flood like situation in 12 districts including Patna has been caused by huge siltation in river Ganga. This situation is result of silt being deposited in Ganga due to construction of Farakka dam in West Bengal. The only way to remove silt from the river is to remove the Farakka dam," Nitish told reporters after holding a review meeting with senior officials on flood situation at the state secretariat here.


"If the Centre has any other option (other than removing the dam), then it should start working for silt removal from the river bed," he said.

Earlier on July 17 this year, Nitish had raised the demand for removal of the dam at the 11th Inter State Council meeting held in New Delhi, saying, "The disadvantages of the Farakka dam appear to be higher
than its benefits."


Raising the issue of Bihar's share in Ganges waters at the Inter State Council meeting, Nitish had also sought the Centre's intervention to ensure uninterrupted flow of water from the states of upper co-basin, so that the entire length of Ganga has continuous supply of water
even during lean season. The Inter council meeting was chaired by PM Narendra Modi and attended by CMs of different states and Union ministers. Later in his Independence day address in Patna, Nitish had said that the depth of river Ganga had reduced following the silt
deposition in the river due to construction of dam at Farakka.


Talking to media persons after the review meeting, Nitish said Army and Air Force authorities have been briefed about flood situation in the
state and they have been kept on alert.


"If needed, Air force will be called and people will be airlifted from the marooned villages in diara (riverine) areas of river Ganga," he told reporters after the meeting, which was also attended by state's water
resources minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh and disaster management
minister Chandrashekhar.

Nitish said people living in the state capital should not be frightened as "till date, there is no possibility of flood waters entering into residential areas of Patna." He said the flood scenario around Patna was thoroughly reviewed at the meeting. "Though flood waters of Ganga have spread upto the capital's protection wall, till date there is no possibility of waters entering into the main residential localities," he said.

While interacting with district magistrates (DMs) of flood affected areas through video-conferencing, CM asked the district officials to set up sufficient number of relief camps and ensure safe transportation of people and cattle heads upto such camps.

He asked the DMs to make all necessary arrangements including safe drinking water, medicines and utensils at the relief camps to ensure proper fooding and lodging of people staying there. Nitish said the calamity-affected people holds the first right on state exchequers, hence the DMs should not hesitate in making proper arrangements of food and lodging at the camps. He also asked the DMs to make aerial survey of their respective flooded areas to make proper assessment of
losses. He also suggested the DMs to set-up relief camps as per the standard operating procedures (SOP) prepared by the disaster management department.

Informing the reasons behind the recent record rise in the level of waters in Ganga, Nitish said there was a sharp rise in the level of its main tributary Sone in the last three days mainly due to heavy rain in
its catchment areas in neighbouring Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. As huge amounts of water are being released in Sone from Madhya Pradesh, it has causes sudden increase in the level of Ganga. The CM said, as per reports from water resources department, another huge
spell of water has been released from Bansagar Dam. "This water will
reach Patna by midnight or tomorrow morning. The water level in Ganga which reduced this morning will again rise by tomorrow. In view of the expected rise in Ganga's water level, I appeal to the people still staying in diara areas to come to the relief camps where necessary arrangement for food and lodging have been made," Nitish said.

 

[kobiraaz]

Farakka has turned Northern Bangladesh into a semi desert. It was opened in 1974 in order to keep the Kolkata port navigable. This report will help to understand

Large swathes of land slowly turning barren and people being forced into repeated migration with no water to cultivate the Boro paddy crop, the mainstay of their existence… twin disasters are unfolding in northwest Bangladesh, with the Padma and Mahanadi rivers slowly drying up.

A primary reason for this is the Farakka Barrage, built upstream in India 10 km from the border, which has reduced the flow of water to Bangladesh contrary to the bilateral treaty between the two neighbours.
Bangladesh and India have hotly debated how the Farakka Barrage on the Ganga – part of which is known as Padma in Bangladesh – cuts off Bangladesh’s water supply. India used the barrage to divert the
river to Calcutta to stop the city’s port drying up during the dry season. This denied Bangladeshi farmers water and silt, and left the Sundarban wetlands and mangrove forests at the river’s delta seriously threatened.

The result – the vast stretch of land in Bangladesh’s Barind Tract region, which produces a major portion of the Boro rice crop, may end up barren unless farmers switch to low-irrigation varieties or the water
levels rise in the Padma river and its tributary Mahananda.

For years, farmers in the Barind Tract – covering parts of the Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon districts – have had to rely on underground water for growing irrigation-intensive Boro paddy. This
dependency would not have developed had there been enough water in the two rivers, experts say. Rainfall could have been another natural supply chain for the
underground water, but this predominantly dry part of the country has never had much of a rainy season. “If the current situation prevails, groundwater could be available for
another decade or so and then the entire region will turn barren,” warned Mohammed Alam Abdul Mannan, senior sub-assistant engineer of the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) at Nachole
in Chapainawabganj.

Official data from BMDA shows that the underground water level.dropped from 64 feet in December 2008 to 97 feet in December 2013. However, according to local Boro growers, the level of underground
water, which was 40 feet about 15 years ago, has plummeted to 160 feet.

In a double whammy, the usage of groundwater has also gone up sharply. According to a survey of the Bangladesh Agricultural.Development Corporation (BADC), groundwater contributed 41%
towards irrigation in 1982. Two decades later, in 2002, that climbed to.as much as 75%.

The ‘if’ in Farakka
Before the commissioning of the Farakka Barrage in 1972, the Padma.was around 100 feet deep during peak periods and 60 feet during lean periods, remember farmers of the Matikata Union in Rajshahi’s
Godagari area. In the last few years, this has come down to as little as.15 feet during peak periods and no water at all during the dry season..“We never had any problem before the Farakka Barrage was installed,”
said Hedayet Ali, 60, a fisherman from Godagari.

According to Golam Rabbani, research fellow at the Bangladesh Centre
for Advanced Studies (BCAS), a key provision of the 1996 water-
sharing treaty says that “if there is water” in the river, India and.Bangladesh will alternatively receive 35,000 cubic litres per second.(cusec) over 10-day periods from March 11 to May 10 every year.”
However, data from the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) shows that
Bangladesh, the lower riparian country, has often been deprived of the projected volume of water during lean periods.
For example, Bangladesh received the guaranteed volume in 2014, but
the flow in 2008, 2009 and 2011 has been less. Bangladesh has been on the wrong side of the “if”, said a JRC member
on condition of anonymity.
Waves of migration.With the Farakka barrage drying up water, families who had migrated in search of a better life find themselves heavily in debt. Lokman Ali was born in a shoal on the Padma river in Rajshahi district. Nine years ago, when he turned 19, he and his family were forced to
leave their home in the Godagiri area and move to the mainland about50 kilometres away.

For Lokman and others, the Padma river was like a sword that cut on both sides. During monsoon, the river eroded severely and gobbled up vast stretches arable land and hundreds of homesteads. In the dry
season, it dried up to such an extent that fertile land in the vicinity turned barren.
But hardships continue to dog their heels in Amnura in neighbouring.Chapainawabganj district. Unable to make a profitable living out of.cultivation, the only way of life they know, the family is looking at
another move..Lokman and his family are still the Diaras, the “outsiders”, as far as the
original inhabitants of Amnura, the Barindas, are concerned. Diaras was traditionally used to describe the moving riverine islands and
therefore also the people who kept moving with these islands “We migrated with hopes for a better life but it has turned out to be a
nightmare. Over the last three years, we have not made any profit. And now we are heavily in debt,” said Lokman’s father Anwar Ali.
Initially, Lokman’s family had bought a piece of land in Amnura andcultivated Boro with the irrigation provided by the BMDA. But Boro because of the excessive cost of irrigation, this year they cultivated
tomato but failed to make any profit.
In fact, the years of loss has made many of them even poorer than what they used to be while living on the Padma shoals.
Many have already started migrating to urban areas trying to make a living by working as day labourers. “Last year, one of my brothers moved to Dhaka to work as a
construction worker. Now, I am also seriously considering that option.
Our family will starve if we keep toiling here,” Lokman said.

Hydrology expert Ainun Nishat said these people would not have needed to migrate had there been enough water in the river.
“If the Padma carried in enough water like it used to do before the.commissioning of the Farakka Barrage in India, such a situation would.not have arisen,” he said.
Dependency on Boro Boro plays a key role in the country’s food security by accounting for
nearly 60% of the total rice production. But the crop, which ensures food for people with low income, is a difficult variety of paddy because.it has to be grown in the dry season and requires a lot of water..Boro is a traditional rice variety which became hugely popular because of its high yield and fast growth and its tolerance to floods. But it is
also extremely water intensive. According to the Bangladesh Rice.Research Institute (BRRI) , every kilogramme of Boro paddy requires around 4,000 litres of water.
With groundwater levels plummeting, growing the crop has become
increasingly difficult and expensive. “A few years ago, I would spend
100 takas (a little over a dollar) for an hour of irrigation. The water I
got was enough for my one-bigha of land [a traditional measure of
land]. But now, even three hours of irrigation cannot fetch the water
that I need,” said Asharfaul Islam, a farmer from Chuniapara village in
Tanore area of Rajshahi district.
The government has also tried to introduce a new water-saving
technology called the alternative wet and dry method, developed by
BRRI. Under this, every kilogramme of rice only requires 700 litres of
water. It has also been trying to popularise less irrigation-intensive
crops such as wheat and maize, but farmers are reluctant to switch.
Rajendro Sarker, a farmer from the Mundulmala village in Rajshahi,
said: “We cannot stop growing Boro because we know everything
about this. Even if it requires huge volume of groundwater for
irrigation, we cannot think about any alternative.”

 

[Nilgiri]

Dam stays, we will review a silt management policy.

 

[kobiraaz]

Dam stays, we will review a silt management policy.

Don't know how effective it will be. Ganges is the life of Indian sub continent and playing with it won't be good for anyone. It's a double edged sword.

 

[Nilgiri]

Don't know how effective it will be. Ganges is the life of Indian sub continent and playing with it won't be good for anyone. It's a double edged sword.

Its more complicated than just Ganges. In this case it was a dam in MP that released a lot of water in one go because of bad management which will have to be reviewed.

The silting at farakka caused a backlog which made it worse. It will have to be reviewed.

But we arent tearing down farakka...it is crucial for hoogly and southern W.B in general.

 

[kobiraaz]

But we arent tearing down farakka...it is crucial for hoogly and southern W.B in general.

Farakka Barrage did not become quite effective to keep Hoogly navigable in dry season as intended when it was built.

On the other hand, 10,000 Biharis are currently affected by the flood.

Well It is upto you. Bangladesh is coping up with this since her existence.

 

[GodToons]

Siltation is natural phenomenon and will occur even if dams are not constructed. Due to this process river change their course over period of time in the plains which is widely documented in ancient civilization near river sindhu and saraswati.

instead of jingoistic call to remove dam and cerate regional tensions, time is to work actively on river linking projects as well as silt management. Dredged soil would be useful in many industries saving top layer earth for farming.

 

[kobiraaz]

Siltation is natural phenomenon and will occur even if dams are not constructed. Due to this process river change their course over period of time in the plains which is widely documented in ancient civilization near river sindhu and saraswati.

instead of jingoistic call to remove dam and cerate regional tensions, time is to work actively on river linking projects as well as silt management. Dredged soil would be useful in many industries saving top layer earth for farming.

On the contrary Bihar Govt had data which they provided to the Central Govt how the Dam has dramatically affected Bihar, Hard to decide which one is the Jingoistic call. Bihar Govt or your post.

 

[livingdead]

On the contrary Bihar Govt had data which they provided to the Central Govt how the Dam has dramatically affected Bihar, Hard to decide which one is the Jingoistic call. Bihar Govt or your post.

he is playing regional politics by blaming others and even center.. CMs do it all the time publicly...

 

[kobiraaz]

he is playing regional politics by blaming others and even center.. CMs do it all the time publicly...

I am an environmentalist, That is why I am against such development. However, I recently read a report about Northern District of Nilfamari. It was one of affected districts of BD due to almost Dead Tista river. People here suffered quasi famine state even a decade ago as agriculture wasn't possible all year around. But now the District is industrialized as the Government is turning those barren areas in export processing Zone and all the women now earn in factories. Their husbands are having the luxury to buy motor bikes from the state of Starving.. However I am not happy with the prospect. Always want to see a Green Bengal.

 

[livingdead]

I am an environmentalist, That is why I am against such development. However, I recently read a report about Northern District of Nilfamari. It was one of affected districts of BD. People here suffered quasi famine state even a decade ago as agriculture wasn't possible all year. But now the District is industrialized and all the women now earn in factories. Their husbands are having the luxury to buy motor bikes from the state of Starving.. However I am not happy with the prospect. Always want to see a Green Bengal.

well i am not environmentalist... but i want detailed study about environment impact beore building new dam... the coal based power is not sustainable... and we need to control lood as well... not saying build dams willy nilly or connect rivers just because it seems good idea..

 

[kobiraaz]

I am an environmentalist, That is why I am against such development. However, I recently read a report about Northern District of Nilfamari. It was one of affected districts of BD. People here suffered quasi famine state even a decade ago as agriculture wasn't possible all year around. But now the District is industrialized as the Government is turning those barren areas in export processing Zone and all the women now earn in factories. Their husbands are having the luxury to buy motor bikes from the state of Starving.. However I am not happy with the prospect. Always want to see a Green Bengal.

Here is a photo of Nilfamari

 

[Bilal9]

As long as LGED (Local Government Engineering Department) in Bangladesh keeps building rubber dams on small rivers/canals, there should be no issue with Farakka anymore during lean season. There are 50 or so dams so far, with the number to exceed a hundred in two more years.

 

[kobiraaz]

As long as LGED (Local Government Engineering Department) in Bangladesh keeps building rubber dams on small rivers/canals, there should be no issue with Farakka anymore during lean season. There are 50 or so dams so far, with the number to exceed a hundred in two more years.

Can you explain how does it work? You mean storing water of Rainy season?

 

[Bilal9]

time is to work actively on river linking projects

The benefits of 'river linking' is not a slam dunk compared to the cost. However it is your money and your decision....

I think Indian inter state issues will be bigger....

What is the problem?

• Article 246 and 7th Sch. the states have exclusive jurisdiction over waters in their territories, including inter-state rivers
• This provision prevents Union and Judiciary to settle the issue.
• It has also stopped the Centre from clearly defined water rights among states, and end the long drawn legal battles.
• The latest example is the second Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal. It has turned into a warzone, with a battery of lawyers, technical staff and irrigation department officials from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Everyone fighting to win the maximum allocation of the Krishna river for their respective state.

Can you explain how does it work? You mean storing water of Rainy season?

Yes. Certain variety of Rice needs water to mature before harvest. The dam keeps the water from flowing away. This is needed mainly in Northern districts.