Desk Report : A cross mark shows Tuesday's level of Teesta water when the flow was 3,000 cusecs at the barrage point in Lalmonirhat. At noon yesterday, the water flow came down to 1,242 cusecs. Photo: Star

A cross mark shows Tuesday's level of Teesta water when the flow was 3,000 cusecs at the barrage point in Lalmonirhat. At noon yesterday, the water flow came down to 1,242 cusecs. Photo: Star

The water of Teesta has fallen again.

After Tuesday's sudden rise in water flow of the trans-boundary river, ruling party lawmakers got busy hailing it as the success of the government's diplomacy. For its part, the opposition BNP termed it as the success of its long march.

The flow was 3,050 cusecs at Teesta irrigation barrage point in Lalmonirhat at 6:50pm on Tuesday. It was around 3,000 cusecs until 11:00pm when the water level started to fall, Water Development Board (WDB) officials said.

Around noon yesterday, the flow stood at 1,242 cusecs.

Contacted, Mahbubur Rahman, WDB executive engineer in Lalmonirhat, said, maybe the gates of Gazoldoba barrage on Indian side were opened on Tuesday due to a technical problem. Maybe after the fixing of the problem, the gates were closed again.

�It is also possible that India willingly released the water,� he said. �But we didn't get any message from India's Gazoldoba barrage authority.�

Yesterday, at a meeting of the parliamentary body on water resources, ruling party lawmakers expressed satisfaction over Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's �diplomatic success� in getting water from India.

But committee members were in the dark about yesterday's development.

Talking to the Daily Star, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud claimed Bangladesh would raise the issue before an international tribunal if it failed to seal a deal with India to ensure its due share of the water of the common river.

But while briefing the media after the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Ramesh Chandra Sen, former water resources minister and an Awami League MP, said raising the issue before an international tribunal might hurt ties with India. So, the country should realise its due share of Teesta water through negotiations.

Meanwhile, the BNP's two-day long march towards the Teesta barrage demanding a fair share of the Teesta water ended yesterday.

At the concluding rally held just adjacent to the Teesta barrage at Dalia in Lalmonirhat, BNP acting general secretary Fakhrul Islam Alamgir warned that ties with India would deteriorate if the neighbouring country did not give Bangladesh a due share of the water of all common rivers.

Fakhrul claimed that around 10,000 cusecs of water in Teesta are needed from India to meet the demands of people in the northern region of Bangladesh. the daily star

Local Time : 0318 Hours, 24 April 2024