Urgent call for BD to step up fight for river, water rights
City Desk:
As India continues taking unilateral steps on shared rivers, experts and activists are urging Bangladesh to intensify its struggle for fair water rights, warning that the country’s environment and the lives of millions are at serious risk.
Speaking at an event on Saturday, they called for stronger public mobilisation and basin-based joint management of the 54 rivers shared with India, reports UNB.
They also pointed out that the only existing water-sharing deal. The Ganges Water Treaty is set to expire in December 2026, making a fresh agreement all the more urgent.
The calls were made at the launch of a memorial book on Atiqur Rahman Salu at the Jatiya Press Club.
Speakers alleged that India, without any bilateral agreement, has built dams upstream and regularly diverts water during the dry season, choking Bangladesh’s rivers and worsening environmental degradation.
In contrast, they pointed out, India releases sudden torrents of water during the rainy season without prior warning, leading to devastating floods and river erosion downstream.
They stressed that the solution lies in basin-based joint river management, ensuring that both upstream and downstream nations benefit, and that rivers remain ecologically alive from their Himalayan origins to the sea.
The memorial book on Atiqur Rahman Salu, featuring a foreword by Emeritus Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, carries 30 articles highlighting his lifelong struggle for river water rights in Bangladesh.