Saving rivers from death-throes  

A two-day international conference titled 'Water and Public-Innovation,' organised by ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB) at Kuakata in Patuakhali district, has brought to the fore the fact that unplanned development at regional and local levels is killing the flowing rivers in Bangladesh. This is also creating social, financial and cultural complications for the people, according to researchers. The conference of water experts from four countries called for adopting community-led innovations to ensure water rights and save the water bodies from dying. Researchers from China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh participated in the conference where six innovative research papers were presented in different sessions.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the conference, a ruling Awami League leader and chief whip of Parliament said the rivers of Bangladesh have been dying because of barrages like Farakka in the upstream while unplanned development works have also become a cause for death of the rivers. He also said Bangladesh might have to pay dearly for the damage of water bodies as manipulating the natural flow of rivers has its own adverse repercussions.

Legal experts on rivers said there are hundreds of policies in the country, but no policy on rivers, and that is why people are killing rivers in many ways. National River Protection Commission was formed aiming to save the country's rivers and ensure the people's right to water, but it is a matter of regret that it is a weak institution. The National River Protection Commission is now an incomplete entity. There is an urgent need for conducting more research on rivers, and regional and international diplomacy must be strengthened to protect the country's rivers. So far, 'water diplomacy' has been very poor.

On the other hand, the fate of the trans-boundary rivers of Bangladesh and Nepal passing through India are largely confined within geographic boundaries of the neighbouring country. India's upstream Nepal has no right to take any decision for utilisation of water in all its catchment areas, while downstream Bangladesh has to wait for India's 'generosity' to get a minimum flow in rivers.

It is pretty well known that the Bangladesh government has been sincerely pushing for an amicable solution to Teesta River waters, but all efforts went fruitless due to lack of harmony in India's handling of the matter which by now is well established. Still, Bangladesh hopes Delhi and its state level leadership would realise the sufferings of millions of people in Bangladesh and come forward with good gestures that Dhaka has shown in other fields. According to the statistics from the National River Conservation Commission, Bangladesh's dry season waterways shrunk to merely 4,000 kilometers from 24,000 km over the last 40 years and the number of rivers has also come down to around 300 from over a thousand. The small and big rivers are dying due to poor release of water from the upstream. This is the right time to raise voice domestically, regionally and internationally.