[ALOCHONA] River linking project of india

River linking project of india  

by Halima Neyamat

The Government of India is implementing a mega project, National River Linking Project for Inter-basin water transfer. The project will have major impact on the livelihood of people, environment, socio-economic conditions of Bangladesh and will have adverse impact on the every sector. In simple word it will cause a disaster to Bangladesh. Halima Neyamat explains.  

'Water' should be looked upon as a social and environmental resource.  Freshwater have remained the life-blood for our nation, communities and individuals. The universal concept,  without freshwater, nature cannot sustain itself and life, cannot be imagined. In this sense, water as the universal solvent and sustenance of the very fabric of life has always remained an inevitable substance for the survival of the people as well as their socio-economic development. We have already faced serious socio-economic losses and environmental degradations due to the unilateral withdrawal of the waters of the Ganges. Bangladesh and India entered into a 30-year Ganges Water Sharing Treaty in 1996 to share the waters of the Ganges available at Farakka during dry season. In this 30-year long Treaty, India agreed to share the waters of some of the border rivers such as the Teesta, the Dharala, the Dudhkumar, the Manu, the Muhuri, the Khowai and the Gumti, the modalities of which will be determined after negotiation between the two countries.  It was expected that the contentious and complex conflicts between Bangladesh and India would be resolved. However, we dissatisfed over the allocation of water, particularly in the dry season: in the event of unexpectedly diminished flow, there is no provision to regulate it, as it had been set out in the previous agreement of 1977.

The Government of India claims that the main idea of the National River Linking Project is to transfer the waters from the areas of surplus traversed by the Himalayan rivers in the north to the areas of deficit in the peninsular south by linking 37 rivers. The main area from where the waters are to be diverted is the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Barak basin, which accounts for 60% of the surface water resources of the country and is also rich in groundwater. However, the rivers that comprise this mega-basin are international watercourses and naturally, international politics as well as international law are bound to be explicitly involved in this undertaking.

It has been roughly estimated that minimum 20% of the total land area of Bangladesh (figure may become far more than this) will be directly affected due to the river linking project.  The harmful effects will be on: environmental degradation, availability of both surface and ground water, quality of water, salinity in soil, agriculture, fisheries, industries, environment, flushing of pollutant, supply and sanitation, public health, navigation etc,. It will have adverse impact on every sector.

The transfer of waters from the Himalayans rivers through the implementation of the present River linking Project will seriously aggravate the situation of Bangladesh further more and will cause a massive disaster. We should clearly know and realize that the National River Linking Project is no more in 'proposed' stage; it is already in the implementation level. The Government of India has the Order from the Supreme Court in support of the project and they have to establish these links within the year 2016. So, we should not wait and watch. We should protest in every-level from national to international. Take actions and fight for our right to water. Bangladesh have to handed over its protest to India and strongly opposed it at the highest political level. We have to criticize, that the concept is politically unsound, technically infeasible and very wrong from the viewpoint of international water law and practice. We have to safe us and our future generation from this upcoming disaster.

http://www.meghbarta.org/nws/nw_main_p01b.php?issueId=6&sectionId=18&articleId=500

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