2024-08-24 11:49:00
Dhaka: The Bangladesh government led by Mohammad Yunus has claimed that the floods in their country are caused by India. According to reports published in the Bangladeshi media, the Bangladesh government has claimed that the current flood situation in some parts of the country has arisen due to the opening of the gates of the dam built on the Gumti river in Tripura. However, now India has rejected this claim of Bangladesh. The Indian Foreign Ministry said that the floods in the rivers between the two countries are a common problem, which causes trouble to the people of both sides. The ministry has stressed the need for mutual cooperation to find a solution to this.
India said – the claim is not factually correct
The ministry said, “We have seen concerns being expressed in Bangladesh that the current flood situation in the districts on the eastern border of Bangladesh has been caused by the opening of the gates of the Dumbur Dam located on the upper reaches of the Gumti River in Tripura. This is factually not correct.” He said, “We would like to point out that the catchment areas of the Gumti River flowing through India and Bangladesh have received the heaviest rainfall of this year in the last few days.
How did the floods happen in Bangladesh?
The Foreign Ministry said that the floods in Bangladesh are mainly due to the water from these large catchment areas downstream of the dam. The Dumbur Dam is located more than 120 km from the (Bangladesh) border, the ministry said in a statement. The Foreign Ministry said, “It is a low-height dam (about 30 meters), which generates electricity and that electricity goes to the grid from which Bangladesh also gets 40 MW electricity from Tripura.” The ministry said, “There are three water-level monitoring sites at Amarpur, Sonamura and Sonamura 2 along the nearly 120 km long river route.”
It is raining continuously in Tripura
Heavy rains have been continuing throughout Tripura and the neighbouring districts of Bangladesh since August 21. The Ministry of External Affairs said water is released automatically when there is excess flow. It said the Amarpur station is part of the bilateral protocol under which real-time flood data is sent from India to Bangladesh. “The data sent to Bangladesh till 3 pm on August 21 shows the rising trend of floods. At 6 pm, the power supply was disrupted due to the floods, which caused communication problems,” it said.
54 rivers flow between India and Bangladesh
“Nevertheless, we have tried to maintain communication through other means designed for immediate transmission of data,” the ministry said. The foreign ministry said the two countries share 54 common trans-border rivers and river-water cooperation is an important part of bilateral engagement. “We are committed to addressing issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions,” it said.