There is no risk of flooding in the northern region due to the opening of the Farakka Dam

Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre

Due to the simultaneous opening of 109 gates of Farakka Dam, it was feared that floods may occur in the northern part of the country, but this did not have any effect. The Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC) said that although the water level of the rivers will rise slightly, it is unlikely to turn into a flood.

Sardar Uday Raihan, Executive Engineer of Flood Forecasting and Warning Center of Water Development Board, gave this information on Tuesday (27 August).

This official said that in the last 24 hours, the water level has increased by 7 cm at the Pankha Point of Chapainawabganj on the Bangladesh side of the Ganga River. But this increase is no cause for alarm. At various points upstream of the Ganga, the water is at a stable level. It takes at least three days for water to reach our country from the very upstream of Ganga river. In this case the increase or decrease of water, whatever, is unlikely to be very significant.

Meanwhile, the ongoing flood situation in various districts of the southeastern part of the country is improving a lot and moving towards normal levels, said the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center.

Center's executive engineer Sardar Uday Raihan said on Tuesday that water was flowing above the danger level for the past three days at 13 points in the eastern region. But except the Comilla point of Gomti river, the water has come down below the danger level in the remaining 12.

Earlier on Monday (August 26) India opened 109 gates of Farakka Dam. It is feared that floods may occur in the northern part of Bangladesh. There is a lot of writing about this on social media.

Responding to Bangladesh's concern, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “This is a normal incident, which is done during the monsoon season.”

In a statement in response to media queries on Farakka Dam, he said, “We have seen media reports that when the gates of Farakka Dam are opened, more than 11 lakh cusecs of water will flow in the natural course downstream of the Ganga/Padma River. This is a normal seasonal increase caused by increased runoff due to heavy rainfall in the upstream Ganga river basin.

Jaiswal said it should be understood that Farakka is only a barrage, it is not a dam. Whenever, the water level reaches the level of the pond, the stream that comes in flows out. It is just a structure that carefully uses a gate system on the main Ganga/Padma river to channel 40 thousand cusecs of water into the Farakka Canal and correspondingly the water flows into the main river towards Bangladesh.

The spokesperson said, according to the protocol, the information is regularly and timely reported to the officials of the Joint River Commission of Bangladesh. That has been done this time too. We have seen fake videos, rumors and scaremongering to create misunderstandings. It should be strongly countered with factual information. Source: BBC

Bangladesh /FM