India dismisses reports of flooding in Bangladesh due to opening of dam in Tripura
The External Affairs Ministry issued a statement on the situation after reports, mainly on social media in Bangladesh, claimed the floods were caused by the opening of India’s Dumbur dam
India today (22 August) dismissed reports that the opening of a dam on the Gumti river in the northeastern state of Tripura had caused floods in Bangladesh.
The External Affairs Ministry issued a statement on the situation after reports, mainly on social media in Bangladesh, claimed the floods were caused by the opening of India's Dumbur dam.
The ministry also said the flooding in the neighbouring country was due to waters from large catchments downstream.
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According to the statement, concerns expressed in Bangladesh about floods in some districts on the eastern borders being caused by the opening of the Dumbur dam in Tripura were "factually not correct".
The Indian side pointed out that the catchment areas of the Gumti river, which flows through both countries, had witnessed the heaviest rains of this year over the past few days. "The flood in Bangladesh is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam," the statement said.
Dumbur dam, which is located more than 120km from the border and upstream of Bangladesh, is a low-height dam of about 30 metres. Power generated by the dam feeds a grid in Tripura, from which Bangladesh draws 40 MW.
Along the 120km course of the river, India has three water level observation sites at Amarpur, Sonamura and Sonamura 2.
The statement further said that heavy rainfall has been continuing since 21 August in the whole of Tripura and adjoining districts of Bangladesh. In the event of heavy inflow, automatic releases have been observed.
The Amarpur water level observation station is part of a bilateral protocol under which India transmits real-time flood data to Bangladesh.
"Data showing rising trend has been supplied to Bangladesh up to 1,500 hrs on 21 August. At 1800 hrs, due to flooding, there was a power outage leading to problems of communication. Still, we have tried to maintain communication through other means created for urgent transmission of data," the statement added.
