Agreements & MOUs - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 166

affected after the closure of the mouth of the Garai by silt. Increase in salinity of the
river water spoilt the fertility of land. Navigation on rivers and creeks also suffered
for lack of required depth of water. Some 21% of shallow tube-wells-and 42% of
deep tube-wells in south-western Bangladesh went defunct because of ground-water
scarcity.
M. Adel Mia , an environmental scientist in a paper titled 'Farakka Barrage:
An Unprecedented Environmental Catastrophe in the Ganga Basin', highlighted
adverse effects on environment and ecology of the Ganga-Padma sub-basin. He said,
before 1975, the Garai, a branch of the Ganga, which used to carry about 170 cumecs
of water during four monsoon months, now carried mere 40 cumecs since 1978 and
that too for three months only. Fish production has come down and certain species
like veda and small prawn are going to be extinct. The fertility of soil has reduced,
following loss of organic matter which could be otherwise replenished from decay
of aquatic life.
Mr. Mia added that salinity intruded into 2590 km 2 area after 1975, affecting
31,078 km 2 as against its intrusion into 18,129 km 2 before. Also affected was the
world's largest mangrove area in the Sundarbans on about 5697 km 2 and about
45 million trees. Various species of animals, birds etc. in the Sundarbans were also
endangered. Erosion of river banks and incidence of flood also increased and farm
production substantially reduced. The Ganga-Kapotaksha irrigation project with
the rated capacity of 152.82 cumecs had to be shut down in 1993 owing to non-
availability of water. The paper mill at Paksey which needed 25,000 metric tonnes of
sweet water for normal production stood on the brink of closure and had to be run by
bringing water in barges from a distance of about 50 km. Employment opportunity
of people also reduced and environmental pollution gave rise to various diseases.
Mr. Mia further said, a field survey was conducted on a hundred villages on avail-
ability of water for drinking and other household purposes after diversion of the
Ganga water at Farakka. The ground water table has receded below 25 feet, result-
ing in closure of hundreds of tube-wells. The villagers, hitherto using river water
for drinking and other household activities faced hardships, as rivers and channels
dried and ground-water table receded in lean season. Earth temperature also shot
up, following rivers etc. going dry and sacred rituals of Hindus and other minority
communities, which need holy river water, also suffered.
Other experts, like Amjad Hossain Khan , Ex-chairman of Bangladesh Water
Development Board and an expert on Water Resources Development; Md.
Manirujjaman Mia , Ex-Vice chancellor of Dhaka University, Tarek Samsur
Rahman , Professor of Political Science, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka and others
also highlighted many other adverse effects.
Khurshida Begum in her Ph.D. thesis 'Tension over the Farakka Barrage - a
Techno-political Tangle in South-Asia' said, 'The withdrawal of a large quan-
tity of water through the Farakka Barrage in violation of the ad-hoc Agreement
1975 for “test running the feeder canal” produced harmful effects on Bangladesh.'
This, she added, was bound to bear an impact, as it was an attempt to intro-
duce a new ecological and environmental system against the usual course of
Nature.