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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
South Asia: Ganges Exploitation
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Joint Publications Research Service, June 19, 1991
South Asia: Ganges Exploitation
</hdr>
<body>
<p>"India to Divert Ganges Flow by 2000", [Dhaka, The New Nation in
English, 30 Apr 91, pp. 1, 8].
</p>
<p> India is building dams, barrages and reservoirs to store
half of total flows of rivers passing through the country,
according to an Indian expert.
</p>
<p> Writing in a journal of Indian Institute of Management
recently, Mr. Ramchandran Singh Deo, former Irrigation Minister
of Madhya Pradesh and leading water expert, reported India
would be completing exploitation of water resources of all
tributaries of the Ganges by 2000 AD.
</p>
<p> "So after 2020 AD what would remain on the river front are
the few minor battles to be fought in relatively unknown
streams, that also uneconomical" Mr. Deo wrote. This underlined
the fact that India would be completing work of harnessing
surface water specially of the rivers for its use in next 30
years. This will include the harnessing of the waters of the
international rivers like the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, Barak
and Jamuna which are the lifeblood of the economy and the source
of existence of the lower riparian country like Bangladesh.
</p>
<p> Experts and informed sources say that India dilly dallies
over any negotiations relating to sharing of the waters of
international rivers with the neighbors only to enable its
engineers complete with work of harnessing the water resources.
</p>
<p> According to Mr. Deo, India has completed construction of
over 1,560 dams and barrages to harness the river waters. He
expressed fear that India would have not enough site to build
water reservoir after 2010 AD if the work continued at this
present pace.
</p>
<p> These open up possibilities for attaining self-sufficiency in
food production by India. But, he warned, these projects had
thrown up new problems. Principal among them was siltation and
denudation of forests affecting the weather and ecology in
India itself. India today faces untimely drought and floods.
</p>
<p> He warned that in about 100 years all reservoirs will be
silted up and any program to desilt will be uneconomic.
</p>
<p> The water experts suggested that the Indian Government
should stagger the construction of the reservoirs to understand
its impact on the weather and ecology.
</p>
<p> For "nature has its own way to have its revenge" he warned.
</p>
<p> While the reservoirs and dams on the tributaries of the
Ganges and other international rivers spring up, the
availability of water down stream dries up, experts in Dhaka
said. It will be so critical that Bangladesh will get no water
from the Ganges and the Brahmaputra within the next 30 years.
India will thus present the situation as fait accompli an
expert who preferred not to be quoted said.
</p>
<p> He said Bangladesh must demand data on dams and reservoirs
built by India upstream to understand how much water out of the
perennial flow India has already diverted. She must compensate
the shortage, he said.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>