Despite excess flow of water to Bangladesh through broken sluice gates of the Farakka Barrage, the additional water could not be utilised due to the absence of adequate water reservoir in the country.
An official of the Joint Rivers Commission told UNB on Tuesday that Bangladesh is receiving additional quantum of water due to the breach in two sluice gates of the Farakka Barrage, which has a total of 109 sluice gates.
JRC director Ahsan Ullah said Bangladesh is scheduled to receive around 40,000 cusecs of water at this time of the year under the Bangladesh-India Ganges Water Sharing Treaty. But due to the damaged sluice gates, the country is getting 15,000-16,000 cusecs of excess water.
He said if the proposed Ganges Barrage would have been in place the excess water could be reserved for use in the dry season (March-May).
Ahsan Ullah said the design of the proposed Ganges Barrage to be built at Pangsha in Rajbari district will be complete in July and tender for the construction of the barrage would be invited in December this year.
Meanwhile, Paschimbanga chief minister Mamata Banerjee has stepped up her campaign against the excess flow of water to Bangladesh and plans to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the matter.
