India opens 109 gates of Farakka Barrage – Bangladesh Diplomat

India has opened 109 gates of Farakka Barrage due to floods in Bihar and Jharkhand.

These gates were opened on Monday (August 26). As a result, 11 lakh cusecs of water will flow in Bangladesh in a day. Due to the opening of the dam, there is a risk of flooding in Murshidabad in West Bengal and in Bangladesh. India has claimed that flood situation and landslide information is being given to Bangladesh in advance.

Chapainawabganj Water Development Board Sub-Divisional Engineer (Acting) Md. Moize Uddin said, 'Until yesterday (Sunday), 27 gates of Farakka were open. Today I saw in various media that a total of 109 gates have been opened. If so many gates are suddenly opened in this way, there is a danger of flooding in this region.'

Farakka Barrage authorities said the water pressure has increased due to flooding in neighboring states. However, there is still no mountain inflow from Nepal, which is somewhat of a relief. In the Farakka barrage area, the water is flowing 77.34 meters above the tidal limit, so the gates had to be opened. Water has also been increased in feeder canals.

Farakka Barrage General Manager R Desh Pandey said that the barrage authorities are always alert and are keeping a regular watch. If all 109 gates were not opened due to the rapid rise in water pressure, the barrage would have been overburdened, which would have caused major damage. At present, 40 thousand cusecs of water has been released in the feeder canal and 11 lakh cusecs in the downstream.

It is to be noted that the upstream water holding capacity of Farakka barrage is 26.24 meters, the flood limit is 22.25 meters and the warning limit is 21.25 meters. Most of the gates have been opened since Saturday as the water capacity in the upstream has exceeded. At present, more than 11 lakh cusecs of water is being released from the barrage.

Meanwhile, the eastern part of Bangladesh has been affected by flash floods caused by heavy rains and landslides from upstream. Millions of people have been displaced by the flood. At least 23 people lost their lives in the flood.

Allegations have been raised that this sudden flood was caused by the opening of the dam of the Dumbu hydropower project in the Indian state of Tripura. But the country's government is saying otherwise.

India's Ministry of External Affairs has claimed that the catchment area of ​​the Gomti River, which flows between India and Bangladesh, has received the highest rainfall of the year for the past few days. Floods in Bangladesh are mainly caused by water from this large catchment downstream of the dam.