India has opened 109 gates of Farakka Barrage due to floods in Bihar and Jharkhand. The gates were opened on Monday. 11 lakh cusecs of water will enter Bangladesh in one day. Due to the opening of the dam, there is a risk of flooding in Murshidabad of West Bengal and Bangladesh.
But India says otherwise. As always, Bangladeshi media is criticizing this time too. Reacting to media reports in Bangladesh on Farakka Barrage, Indian Government Spokesperson Mr. Randhir Jaiswal 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 channel 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.
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 40,000 cusecs of water into the Farakka Canal and the water flows in parallel to the main river towards Bangladesh.
According to the protocol, the data is regularly and timely reported to the concerned Joint River Commission officials 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.
