Agreements & MOUs - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 165

v) Port activities affected with reduction in cargo movement, restriction in move-
ment of ships, delay in negotiating bars and crossings, resulting increase in
port charges.
vi) Low-lying areas, e.g. ponds, nullahs, jheels (canals and lakes) etc. dried up
during lean seasons affecting fish production and aquatic life.
vii) Erosion of canal and river banks increased owing to fluctuations in river and
ground water.
viii) Generation of thermal power severely hampered and power plants partially
shut down during lean season every year.
ix) Tube wells and open wells affected owing to decrease in water level.
x) Adverse effect on environment and ecology in the region.

Effect on Bangladesh

Like the Bhagirathi-Hooghly, other spill channels within Indian territory like
Bhairab-Jalangi and Mathabhanga-Churni were heavily silted in the off-take. After
closure of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly mouth in dry season, the British government
in India before 1947 tried to maintain the navigation route, first through Bhairab-
Jalangi and then through the Mathabhanga-Churni rivers, but both were ultimately
blocked by silt at the mouths. It was obvious that the Gorai-Madhumati spill chan-
nel, passing through southern Bangladesh would have same fate as befell other
channels owing to silt deposit. This was a natural phenomenon because of grad-
ual south-eastward swing of the Ganga-Padma. The Ganga-Kapotaksha irrigation
project, using high-power irrigation pumps was taken up by the then East Pakistan
government at the mouth of the Gorai but faced severe siltation, even before the bar-
rage came up at Farakka. The scheme would have irrigated the fertile alluvial soil
in Kustia, Faridpur, Khulna and Jessore districts.
In spite of the above, diversion of the Ganga water into the Bhagirathi-Hooghly
had adverse effects on Bangladesh. It is a riverine country; big rivers like the Padma,
the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna criss-cross it and medium and small rivers as
well as creeks flow through, carrying ample water for greater part of the year. It
gets excessive rains, but as they occur in three to four monsoon months only, there
is shortage of water in certain parts of the country in other months. The diversion
of the Ganga water added to the shortage in south-western districts of Bangladesh
and caused resentment and agitation in the people. The Bangladesh government
protested to Delhi that reduction of the Ganga flow from 1976 caused widespread
and grave damage to agriculture, industry and ecology of south-west Bangladesh.
Some experts also expressed grave concern, as reflected in the views of a few of
them, as reproduced below.
Amzad Hossain Khan , a water-management expert, said, Bangladesh has been
losing around 5000 million taka (Bangladesh currency: 1 US$

BDT 60.00 in
February 2009) annually, because of this diversion. Reduction in availability of
water for irrigation affected about 60 million people. The Ganga-Kapotaksha project
and many industries, like the newsprint industry in Khulna were also seriously

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