Southwestern region to face environmental disasters

The flow of lower Meghna, which receives combined flow of Brahmaputra, Padma and upper Meghna, has already decreased to a great extent because of diversion of water further upstream through Farakka barrage and other dams constructed by India, they said.

If water is diverted from Ganges-Brahmaputra basin under the proposed Indian river-linking project, the experts said, agriculture, aquatic life and the environment in southwestern coastal areas of Bangladesh will be adversely affected.

"Agriculture, aquatic life and socio-economic condition in the southwestern region are most vulnerable as lower Meghna cannot check intrusion of saline water from downstream," said Jahir Uddin Chowdhury, professor of Institute of Water & Flood Management (IWFM) under Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (Buet).

India's plan to divert water from Brahmaputra will have greater negative impacts on the environment and socio-economic condition than those caused by the Ganges water diversion as 80 percent of water flow of lower Meghna depends on Brahmaputra, he said while delivering a lecture at a course on 'Water and Flood Management for Journalists'.

The Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) and IWFM jointly organised the three-day course at the PIB auditorium in collaboration with the Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) and Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS).

MH Siddiqi, former additional director general of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), said that reduced flow of water from the upstream has badly affected the agriculture sector, wetlands, groundwater level and fisheries resources, causing ecological imbalances.

Dr Rezwan Hossain Siddiqui was also present.