India and the Farakka Dam, Washington Post: March 1997, pg. 25
Defying international law and disregarding
the rights of the lower riparian country, India built a dam in 1975
on the Ganges River just 11 miles from the border of Bangladesh. The
dam diverted Ganges water into India’s Hugli River, causing tremendous
hardship to Bangladesh. As Washington Post staff writer Kenneth
Cooper recently observed: “India’s Farraka dam added a man-made
disaster to the natural ones that routinely beset Bangladesh.”
But now India’s Prime Minister Dev Gowda and Bangladesh Prime
Minister Shaikh Hasina finally have signed a 30-year treaty by which
India agrees to release Ganges waters to Bangladesh during the dry
season, when agricultural crops have to be cultivated.
Ever since India diverted the waters to its side of
the border the Bangladesh side has been devastated. According to
independent observers, the dam has put a serious strain on many
aspects of Bangladeshi daily life, from rice paddies and paper mills
to river ferries and water wells. One researcher estimates that
the water diversion causes annual losses of more than $4 billion
in “one of the world’s poorest countries.”
The Washington Post report noted that “some
villagers have to dig wells as deep as 200 feet to obtain drinking
water.” Silt has been the main problem throughout the entire
Ganges River delta on both sides of the border. However, the arbitrary
building of the Farraka dam has caused untold misery to thousands
of people who depend on Ganges waters. Over the past 25 to 30 years,
the dam also has ruined the region’s ecology. Experts estimate
that it will take 50 to 60 years to repair environmental damage,
and that will require great effort and extensive international assistance.
While the India-Bangladesh agreement is most welcome
and can provide much-needed relief, the people of Bangladesh still
are nervous because India will continue to control water flows,
and previous Indian governments have displayed remarkable insensitivity
to the concerns of their much smaller neighbors. In a Dec. 23, 1996
editorial, The Washington Post noted: “India’s
international notices in recent months have centered on its obstinate
refusal to accept the terms of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty
and its heavy-handed tactics in the Himalayan state of Kashmir.”
The Post added, however, that India “deserves encouragement
and applause when it tempers its nationalism.”