Bangladesh's former envoy pitches for river management in South Asia

Post-colonial South Asia has totally neglected the rivers of the region, and regional integration and growth will remain a far cry unless that changes, says a former top Bangladeshi diplomat.

Ahmed Tariq Karim, a former Bangladesh high commissioner to India and a former ambassador to Washington, is now a World Bank advisor on regional integration in South Asia.

Addressing the inaugural session of South Asia Economic Conclave in New Delhi on Monday, Karim said rivers accounted for seventy percent of transport in colonial India.

"Then the partition syndrome took over and we failed to manage our rivers after the British left," said Karim.

Now rivers don’t even account for thirty percent of transport in South Asia, Karim said.

"That needs to be reversed if we have to achieve regional integration and growth," he said.

"Rivers are the waters of connection, of collaboration, of life, but we seem to have disconnected from the rivers," said Karim.

"We need to dredge our rivers, drain them and reclaim them for use."

Karim said there is a growing understanding between India, Bangladesh and Bhutan on management of common rivers and on how to leverage them for power, transport and much else.

"That spirit needs to spread across the rest of South Asia," said Karim.