bdenvironment.com

Category: Rangpur

  • Teesta River Drying up, Ecosystem under Threat

    Teesta River Drying up, Ecosystem under Threat

    Lalmonirhat’s Patgram Upazilla is the entry point of the Teesta River into Bangladesh. But India has built an irrigation Barrage at the Indian side of Teesta, specifically the Malbazar Town in Jalpaiguri which caused Teesta River Drying up. The barrage, unfortunately, is working as a blockade and diverting the water. As a result, the Bangladeshi portion of the Teesta River is Drying up.

    The Teesta entrance to the Hatibandha Teesta Barrage sees a water flow of around 800-900 cusecs. But the same cannot be said for the area of the barrage to the Lalmonirhat-Kauna area. The water flow recorded there are 300-400 Cusescs.

    Authorities from both India and Bangladesh have held talks about the river situation with practically no Results. The natural biodiversity and the ecosystem of the area are at risk. The drying up is in such a dire level that farmers are cultivating pumpkins in the dried-up land. The Hartibandha Barrage area is totally dried up.

    With the total length of Teesta being 315 km, it covers a 115 km of critical areas within Bangladesh. The natural balance of the surrounding areas depend heavily on the wellbeing of the river.

    With possibilities of talks coming up again in the near future, the welfare of the Teesta River will be of utmost importance. The talks regarding this is not a new occurrence. There has been discussion and debate regarding the river since 1983. A decisive point was reached back in 2007. The Joint river commission of Bangladesh and India decided to divide 4/5th of the river among themselves while the remaining portion would be free to let the river flow properly.

    In 2011, a division with 42.5% in favor of India and 37.5% to Bangladesh was also discussed which like the previous settlement remains unsigned. Bangladeshi officials have to eke out a deal as soon as possible to save the waning ecosystem of the Teesta and the areas around it.

    (The writer is a marketing graduate, content writer, and data science enthusiast from Dhaka, reach him at [email protected])

  • The Teesta River desiccated

    The Teesta River desiccated

    Ashik Rahman: Already majority part of The Teesta River has dried up due to extreme fall in water levels in the summer season. It’s fall due to a barrage in India, upstream of the Teesta Irrigation Project at Dalia, Lalmonirhat. Experts think that barrage is the main hinder the natural flow of the river.

    Officials of Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) said cute to creating several sandy shoals on the Teesta River had been fall which effect hampers on agriculture, environment, communication, and livelihoods. At least 5,000 people at shoal villages in Sundarganj Upazila, Rangpur is a sufferer and a long area is desiccated in Rangpur.

    Chandipur Union Parishad of the Upazila Golam Mostafa Ahmed chairman said to media that at least a thousand people become unemployed. And they will be employed for a season for a lack of fertility due to vast tracts of land along the riverbank remains unplanted.

  • Rivers in Bangladesh ‘Comatose’

    Rivers in Bangladesh ‘Comatose’

    Ashik Rahman: The locality and government are neglected to be responsible for the relentless degradation. As a source of livelihood, communication, and heart of people in Dhaka had been determined to the Buriganga River but now it’s a major source of running the capital. This happens due to pollution and building illegal property by robbing. So, now Rivers in Bangladesh is in ‘Comatose’

    Along with Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakkhya, Balu and Bangshi is being a death trap for increasing pollution and also indiscriminate sand lifting. The minimal level of dissolved oxygen (DO) required for life to survive in these rivers do not have.

    Researchers of The Department of Environment (DoE) had been an alarming message on levels of DO in these rivers after three months of research. They have analysis on various samples of a chemical whose were collected from these rivers and the levels of DO in Buriganga, Turag and Bangshi were 0.38, 0.59 and 0.0 milligram per liter gradually.

    According to the Environment Protection Act (Amendment) 2010, the minimum required level DO is 5 mg/l for any water body to sustain aquatic species including fishes and others is. The minimal standard rate for water being eligible for treatment as drinking water is 6 mg/l.

    Contacted with Environment Expert Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed over the phone, he said that “such a DO merge amount in water poses severe great threats to biodiversity and hydro-ecology”. “Random dumping of waste has put the rivers in and around the city in a blackout”.

    Professor Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said that the government ought to shift the tannery diligence from the Hazaribagh, Dhaka. The chemical waste from the tanneries is a major polluter of these rivers. It’s important that The DoE research had been found that the level of DO at the Hazaribagh area of Buriganga River was 1.06, 0.50 and 1.0 mg/l in January, February and March gradually. And the Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is also very high in these waters.