Govt scraps Ganges barrage at Pangsha

Water resources minister Anisul Islam Mahmud on Wednesday said the government has scrapped the Ganges barrage construction at Pangsha in Rajbari.

Addressing a press conference at his office in Bangladesh, the minister also said the government will form a high powered committee to look for an alternative site for the barrage.

At a press conference at Ganabhaban on her four-day visit to India on Tuesday, prime minister Sheikh Hasina she had cancelled the Ganges Barrage construction project as it was a “suicidal” project like the Teesta one.

Also ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) president, Hasina said the barrage would be constructed jointly by Bangladesh and India and that too as per her instruction across a tributary of the Ganges River to set up a reservoir to preserve monsoon water for the lean period.

She also said she asked India and officials concerned to look for the site for the barrage over a tributary of the cross-boundary river.

“The Ganges Barrage construction project is being re-evaluated. The ministry will form a high powered committee which will look for alternative options,” the water resources minister told newsmen.

He said the committee will also look into how the waters Bangladesh is getting through Padma as per the Ganges treaty with India can be used.

Asked whether the government has scrapped the project, the minister said, “You can call it abandoned.”

He, however, said there is no dispute over the construction of Ganges barrage.

“The question remains where and how it will be built,” added the minister.

Source: Prothom Alo