India on Thursday said that the flood situation in Bangladesh is not due to release of waters from the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura, amid reports in Bangladeshi dailies alleging that the massive flooding in Comilla district was due to India opening the dam sluice gates.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that it has seen concerns being expressed in Bangladesh that the current situation of flood in districts on the eastern borders of Bangladesh has been caused by opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura.
“This is factually not correct”, the Indian government said.
“We would like to point out that the catchment areas of Gumti river that flows through India and Bangladesh have witnessed heaviest rains of this year over the last few days.
“The flood in Bangladesh is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam.
“The Dumbur dam is located quite far from the border – over 120 Km upstream of Bangladesh. It is a low height (about 30m) dam that generates power that feeds into a grid and from which Bangladesh also draws 40MW power from Tripura.
“Along the about 120 Km river course we have three water level observation sites at Amarpur, Sonamura and Sonamura 2.
“Heavy rainfall has been continuing since August 21 in the whole of Tripura and adjoining districts of Bangladesh. In the event of heavy inflow, automatic releases have been observed.
“Amarpur station is in part of a bilateral protocol under which we are transmitting real time flood data to Bangladesh.
“Data showing rising trend has been supplied to Bangladesh upto 1500 hrs on August 21, 2024.
“At 1800 hrs, due to flooding, there was power outage leading to problems of communication. Still, we have tried to maintain communication through other means created for urgent transmission of data.
“Floods on the common rivers between India and Bangladesh are a shared problem inflicting
sufferings to people on both sides, and requires close mutual cooperation towards resolving them.
“As two countries sharing 54 common cross-border rivers, river water cooperation is an important part of our bilateral engagement.
“We remain committed to resolving issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions,” the Indian government said.
The Dhaka Tribune, in a report said that “authorities in Tripura made an impromptu overnight decision to open a sluice gate of the Dumboor Reservoir, releasing a large volume of floodwaters downstream to Comilla in Bangladesh via the transboundary Gomti River.
“The consequences were immediate: since Wednesday morning, a vast swath of farmland in Comilla has been submerged by the oncoming waters, with people losing their livelihoods, homes, and crops across thousands of hectares. This caught authorities on the Bangladeshi side of the border off guard, as there had been no official communication from the Indian or Tripura authorities about their decision to open the sluice gate—a move taken for the first time since 1993,” it reported.
Another report in Daily Sun said that “Heavy rainfall and the onrush of river water from the bordering districts of India have inundated eight districts in the eastern and south-eastern regions of Bangladesh, putting hundreds of thousands of people in the country in immense misery.”
