Inter River Linking Project and Bangladesh

River system in South Asia mainly concentrate on the Bangladesh- India river system. There are main
three trans-boundary rivers between India and Bangladesh that make the country dependent on India
(upper stream) for its river basin management. India and Bangladesh share 54 trans-boundary rivers
having the most vital rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM). GBM systems coverage about
10 % of global population is living in this area. There are some river linking project presently and some
are to be constructed all over the Asia, especially by the upper riparian countries like India, China and
also by Nepal in this region. Indian Government has an Interlinking River (ILR) plan. Under this plan
India will join 37 rivers by 30 links. The National River Linking Project (NRLP) is designed to ease
water shortages in western and southern India while mitigating the impacts of recurrent floods in the
eastern parts of the Ganges basin. River Linking projects of India are mainly categorized in two ways
as (a) Peninsular Components (b) Himalayan Components. Peninsular Components; this part consists
of 16 river linking projects. The links of this component will irrigate about 130,000 square kilometers
of land and will generate about 4 GW of hydro-electricity. Himalayan Components; this is the upper
(part) of India that is mostly river originating area for South Asian rivers. There will be created a series
of reservoirs along Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins. Water will be diverted from Brahmaputra
(India) to the Ganges and Ganges also will be linked to the Mahanadi. This will irrigate 220,000
square kilometers of land in this region. There will be generated about 30 GW of hydro-power from
this component of the project. China is also trying to divert the river water from its natural course. The
Brahmaputra and Jamuna flows will decrease drastically by 60 %, if the project is implemented. If our
upper stream countries are going this way then our Bnagladesh (lower riparian country) will be faces a
horrible environmental crisis such as; reduction in availability of water resources both surface and
ground water, deterioration of water quality, changes river morphology, salinity in soil, surface and
ground water, modification of flood regime. shifting of agricultural practice, destruction of the
ecosystem. Bangladesh is a lower riparian country. On the other hand India is a giant and rising &
booming super power in south Asia competing China. Mr. India always want to deprive his neighbor
small and weak countries through bilateral discussion. So it needs to force India to come in the table of
multilateral discussion even by the international communities to save our environment.

Md. Abdus Sabur

M. Sc (CU)
Executive (GIS and Business Section)
HawarIT Ltd. Dhaka
sabur.bd01@gmail.com
01711025096