The barrage issue became talk of the town after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the Indian state of Bihar recently urged the country’s central government to decommission the controversial barrage. “Usually a river dam has working capacity for about 50 years while Farakka Barrage has already passed some 46 years,” he said. According to him, there was nothing wrong with the water sharing deal, since Bangladesh had been getting water in its accordance. “There are four Bangladeshi officials in India and two Indian officials in Bangladesh monitoring water discharge through the barrage regularly,” he said, terming allegation of Bangladesh getting little water baseless. The affected areas in Bangladesh are flooded badly in rainy season when India opens up the barrage.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 22, 2017 18:45 UTC