Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal has stated that the opening of the Farakka Barrage gates is a normal occurrence during the monsoon season. Due to severe flooding in eastern Bangladesh, the news of the opening of the Farakka Barrage gates by India became a headline in Bangladeshi media today. In this context, the spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs faced questions from journalists on Monday night.
In response, Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have seen media reports about the opening of the Farakka Barrage gates, which mentioned that this would allow 1.1 million cusecs of water to flow downstream in the Ganges/Padma river along its natural course. This is a normal occurrence that happens during the monsoon season.”
Jaiswal mentioned that the river flow increases due to heavy rainfall in the upstream Ganges basin and explained, “It’s important to understand that Farakka is just a barrage, not a dam. This happens whenever the water level rises. It is merely a structure built to allow 40,000 cusecs of water to flow into the Farakka Canal. The mechanism is operated using gates on the Ganges/Padma River.”
The spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs further explained that the excess water maintains the main river’s flow and flows towards Bangladesh. He added that according to protocol, information about the water flow is regularly and timely communicated to the officials of the Joint River Commission of Bangladesh. This has also been done this time.
Randhir Jaiswal mentioned that videos and rumors are being spread to create misunderstandings between the two countries. There are also attempts to create a sense of fear. Such attempts will be countered firmly with information.
An Indian government source mentioned that information and statistics were communicated to Bangladesh in a timely manner through email and WhatsApp. The two countries have already created a WhatsApp group where all water-related information is being exchanged.
