NN Online:
As India continues to take unilateral actions on shared rivers, experts and activists have urged Bangladesh to ramp up its efforts in securing fair water rights. They warned that environmental degradation and the well-being of millions are at serious risk.
Speaking at an event on Saturday, speakers called for greater public mobilisation and basin-based joint management of the 54 rivers shared with India. They noted that the only current agreement—the Ganges Water Treaty—will expire in December 2026, making a new deal increasingly urgent.
The event, held at the Jatiya Press Club, marked the launch of a memorial book on Atiqur Rahman Salu, a lifelong campaigner for water rights.
Speakers alleged that India continues to build dams and divert water during the dry season without any bilateral agreement, causing Bangladesh’s rivers to dry up and intensifying ecological harm. Conversely, India often releases large volumes of water during the rainy season without warning, triggering floods and river erosion in downstream Bangladesh.
They stressed the need for basin-based joint river governance to ensure ecological sustainability and equitable water distribution from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.
The memorial book on Atiqur Rahman Salu, introduced with a foreword by Emeritus Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, features 30 articles on his enduring struggle for river justice. Salu’s legacy, particularly his vision for another mass rally like the Chilmari gathering of March 4, 2005, was highlighted as a beacon for future activism.
That Chilmari rally, attended by a million people, echoed the spirit of the 1976 Farakka Long March led by Maulana Bhashani, which later led to the 1977 Ganga Water Treaty.
Saturday’s programme was organised by the International Farakka Committee (IFC), Bangladesh. It was chaired by IFC New York Chairman Syed Tipu Sultan and moderated by IFC Bangladesh President Mostafa Kamal Majumder.
Notable attendees included Dr Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser (Ministry of Finance); Mostafa Jamal Haider, Chairman of Jatiya Party (Zafar); Professor Jasim Uddin Ahmad, Chief Adviser of IFC Bangladesh; former MP Professor Shahria Akhtar Bulu; Farida Eusufzai, Salu’s wife and the book’s publisher; Bangladesh Labour Party Chairman Mostafafizur Rahman Iran; and book editor Kamrul Huda.
Others who addressed the gathering included Gias Ahmed (Bhashani Foundation, New York), Principal Sheikh Firoz Ahmad, Professor Israrul Haque, Kamal Uddin Chowdhury, Principal Abdul Mannan Khan, Advocate Mujibur Rahman, Jamaluddin Jamal, Rafiqul Islam Azad, and Ataur Rahman Ata, according to a press release.
