New Delhi: India on Thursday clarified that the present flood situation in Bangladesh is not the result of water leaking from the Tripura dam, refuting allegations in (Bangladeshi) newspapers claiming the present waterlogging scenario in the neighbouring country is due to the opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura.
“We have seen concerns being expressed in Bangladesh that the current situation of flood in districts on the eastern borders of Bangladesh has been caused by the opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura. This is factually incorrect,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
“The flood in Bangladesh is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam,” it said.
India emphasizes that floods on the common rivers between India and Bangladesh are a shared problem, inflicting suffering on people on both sides. This shared responsibility necessitates close mutual cooperation to resolve them, involving all stakeholders.
The MEA said, “As the two nations share 54 common cross-border rivers, river water cooperation is an important part of our bilateral engagement, and we remain committed to resolving issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions.”
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The Dumbur dam is located quite far from the border—over 120 km upstream of Bangladesh. It is a low-height (about 30m) dam that generates power that feeds into a grid, from which Bangladesh also draws 40MW power from Tripura.
“Along the about 120 Km river course, we have three water level observation sites at Amarpur, Sonamura and Sonamura 2,” it said.
Since August 21, Tripura and adjoining districts of Bangladesh have been recording heavy rainfall, which has led to automatic releases.
Under a bilateral protocol, the Amarpur station transmits real-time flood data to Bangladesh, which showed a rising trend up to 1500 hrs on August 21.
Due to flooding, there was a power outage at 1800 hours, leading to problems in communication. It was maintained through other means created for urgent data transmission.
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–IANS
IANS
Photo Credit : @MEAIndia/twitter
