Agreements & MOUs - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 181

C H I N A (TIBET)

R. TSANG PO

BHUTAN

BANGLADESH

MYANMAR

.... PROPOSED DAM SITES

Fig. 10.9 Bangladesh augmentation proposal

i) Nepal: 0.029 million million cubic metre (23.5 million acre feet)
ii) India: 105 million million cubic metre (85 million acre feet)
iii) Bangladesh: 0.055 million million cubic metre (44.5 million acre feet)
------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 0.189 million million cubic metre (153 million acre feet)

Views of Bangladesh on India's Proposal

Bangladesh argued that India's proposal for construction of a link canal between the
Brahmaputra and the Ganga to augment water in the latter violated the principles of
inter-basin transfer. B. M. Abbas stated that the universally accepted basic principles
in respect of transfer of water from one river basin or sub-basin to another were

a) the present and future requirements of the exporting basin must be fully met, or
safeguarded, i.e. the water from the exporting basin, or region, should be surplus;
b) the requirement of the importing basin, or region, should be reduced to the
minimum possible by tapping alternative sources which, except on special
consideration, should be cheaper than the proposed imported water and effect
savings in existing water uses, efficiently.
c) the impact of bulk transfer from exporting region, hydrological changes, ecology,
environmental pollution, aesthetics and human interests in water and properties
in the rights of way through which such transfers are affected to the minimum,
have to be studied.