PABNA, Jan 5: As per the terms of references of the Bangladesh-India Water Sharing Agreement, joint monitoring of water in the Padma and the Ganges has started in both the countries.
On Sunday, a joint delegation comprising representatives of two countries started the observation at Hardinge Bridge Point of the Padma River and Farakka Point of India's Ganges in Ishwardi Upazila of Pabna.
According to the Hydrology Department of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), after the signing of Bangladesh-India Joint Water Sharing Agreement in 1996, the observation is carried out from January 1 to May 31 every year. This year's monitoring has started accordingly as well.
According to the agreement, Joint River Commission officials monitor the Ganges water at Farakka Point in India and Hardinge Bridge Point in Bangladesh. The monitoring has started accordingly.
Executive Engineer Vasant Kumar and Engineer Deepak Kumar of the Central Water Commission of India are leading the Indian delegation. They have started monitoring at Bheramara Point in Kushtia, two and a half thousand feet upstream of Hardinge Bridge on Padma River with experts from Bangladesh.
According to the agreement, if the flow of water in Farakka is 70,000 cusecs or less for the first 10 days, both Bangladesh and India will get 50 per cent of the water. In the second 10 days, if there is a flow of 70,000 cusecs at Farakka point, Bangladesh will get 35,000 cusecs of water. In the third 10 days, if there is a flow of 75,000 cusecs or more at Farakka Point, India will get 40,000 cusecs of water, Bangladesh will get the rest.
However, according to the agreement, from March 11 to May 10, both Bangladesh and India will get 35,000 cusecs of water in the order of three rounds of 10-day calculations.
Zahidul Islam, Executive Engineer of the Hydrology Department of District BWDB, said that the water flow at Hardinge Bridge Point this year is slightly less than last year. In last year at this time, the water flow at Hardinge Bridge Point was 1.10 lakh cusecs. This year there is around 1.6 lakh cusecs.
