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Inland Water Transport Cos Want Govt to Address Farakka Barrage Issue

  • The inland water transport companies running services in the Hooghly river and Kolkata Port Trust have sent SOSs to the appropriate authorities in New Delhi seeking their immediate intervention to avert a probable disaster being caused by the insufficient discharge of water through Farakka Barrage hit by breakdowns of two lock gates one in June and another in December last year with another half a dozen requiring repair immediately.

GAIN FOR BANGLADESH

  • The breakdowns have reportedly reduced the water flow through the barrage into India to a thin trickle with the result Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system is reportedly getting much less than what is stipulated in the water-sharing agreement with Bangladesh.Bangladesh stands to gain in the present situation as it is reportedly getting the larger share of the total discharge through the barrage. Total availability of water at the barrage is now good thanks to heavy rains in the upper reaches.
  • Predictably this has thrown up myriad problems. NTPC's super thermal plant at Farakka and West Bengal Power Development Corporation's plant at Sagardighi which are dependent on the river are not getting enough water.The river transport companies are unable to run their services and the Kolkata Port Trust, already hit by the poor navigability of the river, is apprehensive of a major debacle.

DIFFICULT SITUATION

  • The Chairperson of Inland Water Transport Authority of India (IWAI), Ms Bhupinder Prasad, when contacted pleaded helplessness. “The problem was brought to our notice as early as June last year when the first lock-gate broke down and we took it up immediately with the Ministry of Water Resources. What more can we do,” she said.
  • Meanwhile, as she pointed out Jessop had been entrusted with the repair job and hopefully one gate should be ready for operation by the end of this month and the other after one month. She conceded that the available draft in the river dropped alarmingly and might worsen in coming days. “So far we've managed somehow but we're keeping our fingers crossed,” she observed.

FORCE TO DISEMBARK

  • Meanwhile, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, has written to the Prime Minister seeking his immediate intervention in the matter.Inquiries with the river transport companies reveal that the available draft in the river beyond Nabadwip has dropped by one metre to 1.5 metres against the minimum requirement of 2.5 metres.One cruise operator had to force the tourists on board to disembark half-way through the journey and travel by road, it is learnt. Kolkata Port Trust sources point out that the lean period from March 11 to May 10 is divided into six “blocks” of 10 days each according to the agreement with Bangladesh.

PROBLEM

  • India and Bangladesh each will get 35,000 cusecs of water in alternative blocks, i.e., if India gets 35,000 cusecs in the first block, Bangladesh will get the same quantity in the second block, and India will again get 35,000 cusecs in the third block as a chain under normal circumstances.
  • If the total discharge through the Farakka Barrage is 70,000 cusecs during the entire lean period then each side will get 35,000 cusecs in each block.If it is more than 70,000 cusecs, then one country will get 35,000 cusecs and the other will get more than that.But the problem is that the total availability would often drop to around 60,000 and even 50,000 cusecs or so.
  • Which means one country gets around 25,000 cusecs or as low as 15,000 cusecs.More than Haldia, where water flow is dominated by tide from the sea, Kolkata Dock System dominated by flow from Farakka gets hit as a result.The port authorities are apprehensive of shoaling of the river at Hooghly point from March end.“We've drawn the attention of IWAI as well as the Development Adviser (Ports) Ministry of Shipping to our apprehension,” the sources add.

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