NEW DELHI/DHAKA: The Indian governmentt on Thursday strongly denied claims in Dhaka that flooding of districts on the eastern borders of Bangladesh had been caused by the opening of Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti river in Tripura, saying that floods on cross-border rivers is a shared problem on both sides. Indian govt sources also warned the interim govt against any official backing of “misplaced” narratives.
The warning came in the wake of allegations by one of the advisers to the interim govt, Mohammad Nahid Islam, that India’s “non-cooperation” was the reason for the flooding.”Without any prior warning and without giving us time for preparation, the dam was opened. Through this India showed an inhuman approach and is demonstrating non-cooperation with Bangladesh,” Islam said after a meeting of the advisory council with chief adviser Muhammad Yunus.
Amid cross-border acrimony, there were rumours in Dhaka that Yunus had summoned Indian envoy Pranay Verma. Sources in Delhi, however, said that the request by Verma for a call was lodged several days ago and before the events related to the floods.
Nahid, one of the coordinators of the protests against ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, who is supervising information and broadcasting affairs, hoped that India will come out from this “anti-Bangladesh policy”.
“Any official backing of such misplaced narratives is unhelpful to bilateral ties and the use of the word ‘summon’ is clearly an attempt at disinformation,” said a source on condition of anonymity.
In a statement, the foreign ministry said this problem requires close mutual cooperation, adding India continues to provide real-time flood data to Bangladesh as per a bilateral protocol.
With the two countries sharing 54 common cross-border rivers, river water cooperation is an important part of their bilateral engagement. Looking to allay concerns in Bangladesh about India’s alleged role in the floods, which followed the political crisis in the country, Indian govt said it remained committed to resolving issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions.
India pointed out that the catchment areas of the Gumti river that flows through India and Bangladesh have witnessed the heaviest rains of this year over the past few days and the flood in the neighbouring country is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam.
“Dumbur dam is located quite far from the border – over 120km upstream of Bangladesh. It is a low-height (about 30m) dam that generates power that feeds into a grid and from which Bangladesh also draws 40MW power from Tripura. Along the about 120km river course, we have three water level observation sites at Amarpur, Sonamura and Sonamura 2,” said MEA.
“Heavy rainfall has been continuing since Aug 21 in whole of Tripura and adjoining districts of Bangladesh. In the event of heavy inflow, automatic releases have been observed,” it added, while recalling that the Amarpur station is in part of a bilateral protocol under which India is transmitting real-time flood data to Bangladesh.
“Data showing a rising trend has been supplied to Bangladesh up to 3pm on Aug 21, 2024. At 6pm, due to flooding, there was a power outage, leading to problems of communication. Still, we have tried to maintain communication through other means created for urgent transmission of data,” said govt.
Heavy rainfalls have caused heavy flooding, the worst since 1956, in Tripura with more than 80% of the state capital, Agartala, waterlogged. The situation worsened in the city after it received 233mm rain on Wednesday that could not be pumped out as the Haora river was overflowing.
Eight districts of Bangladesh have been flooded due to heavy rains and onrush of water from the upstream, said the ministry of disaster management and relief on Wednesday. The eight districts are Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Feni, Chattogram, Noakhali, Comilla and Khagrachhari. At least 1,796,248 people have been affected, the ministry said on Thursday.
(With inputs from AKM Moinuddin in Dhaka)
The warning came in the wake of allegations by one of the advisers to the interim govt, Mohammad Nahid Islam, that India’s “non-cooperation” was the reason for the flooding.”Without any prior warning and without giving us time for preparation, the dam was opened. Through this India showed an inhuman approach and is demonstrating non-cooperation with Bangladesh,” Islam said after a meeting of the advisory council with chief adviser Muhammad Yunus.
Amid cross-border acrimony, there were rumours in Dhaka that Yunus had summoned Indian envoy Pranay Verma. Sources in Delhi, however, said that the request by Verma for a call was lodged several days ago and before the events related to the floods.
Nahid, one of the coordinators of the protests against ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, who is supervising information and broadcasting affairs, hoped that India will come out from this “anti-Bangladesh policy”.
“Any official backing of such misplaced narratives is unhelpful to bilateral ties and the use of the word ‘summon’ is clearly an attempt at disinformation,” said a source on condition of anonymity.
In a statement, the foreign ministry said this problem requires close mutual cooperation, adding India continues to provide real-time flood data to Bangladesh as per a bilateral protocol.
With the two countries sharing 54 common cross-border rivers, river water cooperation is an important part of their bilateral engagement. Looking to allay concerns in Bangladesh about India’s alleged role in the floods, which followed the political crisis in the country, Indian govt said it remained committed to resolving issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions.
India pointed out that the catchment areas of the Gumti river that flows through India and Bangladesh have witnessed the heaviest rains of this year over the past few days and the flood in the neighbouring country is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam.
“Dumbur dam is located quite far from the border – over 120km upstream of Bangladesh. It is a low-height (about 30m) dam that generates power that feeds into a grid and from which Bangladesh also draws 40MW power from Tripura. Along the about 120km river course, we have three water level observation sites at Amarpur, Sonamura and Sonamura 2,” said MEA.
“Heavy rainfall has been continuing since Aug 21 in whole of Tripura and adjoining districts of Bangladesh. In the event of heavy inflow, automatic releases have been observed,” it added, while recalling that the Amarpur station is in part of a bilateral protocol under which India is transmitting real-time flood data to Bangladesh.
“Data showing a rising trend has been supplied to Bangladesh up to 3pm on Aug 21, 2024. At 6pm, due to flooding, there was a power outage, leading to problems of communication. Still, we have tried to maintain communication through other means created for urgent transmission of data,” said govt.
Heavy rainfalls have caused heavy flooding, the worst since 1956, in Tripura with more than 80% of the state capital, Agartala, waterlogged. The situation worsened in the city after it received 233mm rain on Wednesday that could not be pumped out as the Haora river was overflowing.
Eight districts of Bangladesh have been flooded due to heavy rains and onrush of water from the upstream, said the ministry of disaster management and relief on Wednesday. The eight districts are Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Feni, Chattogram, Noakhali, Comilla and Khagrachhari. At least 1,796,248 people have been affected, the ministry said on Thursday.
(With inputs from AKM Moinuddin in Dhaka)