Prime minister Sheikh Hasina addresses a press conference on her recent visit to India at Gana Bhaban in Dhaka on Tuesday. — BSS photo
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said that she had cancelled the Ganges Barrage construction project at Pangsha in Rajbari as it was a suicidal project line the Tessta Barrage.
At a press conference at Ganabhaban on her four-day visit to India, she said that the barrage would be constructed jointly by Bangladesh and India and that too as per her instruction across a tributary of the Ganges River to set up a reservoir to preserve monsoon water for lean period.
She said that she had already cancelled the design of the proposed Ganges Barrage in Rajbari and its feasibility study as they were faulty and asked India and officials concerned to look for the site of the barrage over a tributary of the cross-boundary river.
‘I have asked Mamata Banerjee to choose sites for reservoirs and Bangladesh would also find out a suitable site for the barrage,’ she said.
‘Instead of crying for water, we have to make reservoirs to preserve water,’ said she.
The prime minister said that she went to India seeking for nothing but friendship and returned home with dignity.
The government was expecting a breakthrough in the construction of Ganges Barrage in the Bangladesh side of the cross-border Padma River and a deadline for the signing of the Teesta water sharing deal during the visit.
Replying to a query about the Teesta water sharing deal, she said, ‘We are in the downstream and water will come down. No one can stop the flow.’
Asked if she accepted West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposal for sharing waters of four other common rivers as an alternative to the Teesta water sharing, Hasina said that she rather made a proposal for bringing waters from those rivers to Teesta for its equitable sharing with Bangladesh.
‘Those who were in power during construction of Gajoldoba barrage acroos the Teesta upstream in India remained silent and initiated suicidal Teesta Barrage project,’ she said.
‘Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has assured that the Teesta water sharing deal would be signed by our governments at the earliest and we can wait with patience,’ Hasina said.
Asked about details of the deals and memorandums of understanding, the memorandum on defence cooperation in particular, signed during the visit and if those would be made public in any form, the prime minister said, ‘You will be able to know; we have nothing to hide.’
Hinting at mysterious contents in such a deal signed with China, she said, ‘Those who are criticising the deals have signed a secret deal with China. You don’t know anything about that.’
The prime minister said that the issues of the water sharing of the common rivers, Ganges barrage construction, basin-wise river management, defence cooperation, connectivity, bilateral business promotion, sub-regional cooperation, enhancement of investment and cooperation in power and energy were discussed in the bilateral talks with her Indian counterpart.
She said, Bangladesh had defence deals with at least six countries including China, France, Kuwait, Turkey and Belarus.
‘We purchase [defence equipment] from various countries including Pakistan…We will have the freedom to purchase [defence equipment] from any country under the memorandum signed with India,’ she claimed.
She said that 35 documents – 11 agreements and 24 memorandums of understanding – were signed during the visit. Besides, 13 deals and memorandums relating to economic cooperation and investments involving $9 billion were signed between various government and non-government agencies of the two neighbours, she mentioned.
She said she had no dissatisfaction over her India tour.
She said everything was done upholding the dignity of the country and protecting its interest.
Responding to an alleged attempt to minus her from politics, she criticised Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus for hatching conspiracies and doing business while holding the post of managing director of Grameen Bank, a statutory entity.
Hasina went to India on Aril 7 on a four-day state visit at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and returned home on Monday evening.
The government earlier planned the construction of the Ganges barrage at Pangsa between 2014 and 2020 at a cost of $4 billion. The construction cost already escalated to $5 billion as the government was awaiting India’s consent for it, said water resources ministry officials.
Bangladesh was keen to build the barrage with Indian cooperation mainly to check intrusion of salinity and supply waters for irrigation in the country’s south-western region.
The barrage would also protect the biodiversity of the Sunderbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, according to project documents.
A Chinese state-run firm, appointed over three is carrying out detailed technical and financial feasibility studies, the officials said.
Earlier, the government carried out feasibility studies on the Ganges Barrage project on its own, they said.
The officials said that the construction of the barrage awaited ‘clearance’ from New Delhi, which sought a detailed feasibility study report on the planned barrage.
In her three-point directive prime minister Sheikh Hasina announced in April 2015 that the Ganges Barrage would be a joint Bangladesh-India project to ensure uninterrupted natural flows of the Ganges-Padma in Bangladesh.
In April 1975, India commissioned the Farakka Barrage to divert Ganges waters for flushing the Kolkata port.
India’s withdrawal of Ganges waters from the upstream using the Farakka Barrage drastically reduced the river’s water flows into lower riparian Bangladesh adversely affecting its agriculture, fishery, forestry, navigation as well as industrial growth.
Salinity intrusion deep inside Bangladesh due to the low flow in the Ganges poses threat to the biodiversity of the Sunderbans, a World Heritage Site.
Source: New Age