Why Bangladesh was not warned of Haor flooding by India, asks BELA

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association Chief Executive Syeda Rizwana Hassan has asked why Bangladesh did not receive prior warning of the onrush of floodwaters to the Haor areas from India.

“Bangladesh’s Haors have been flooded by runoff from India’s mountains,” she said. “And Bangladesh may raise questions as to why it was not warned of the impending floods.”

Rizwana was speaking at a press conference titled ‘Stand by the Victims of the Haor Humanitarian Disaster’ organised by the ‘Environment and Haor Development Organisation’ in Dhaka on Saturday.

Given their warm relations, the Bangladesh and Indian governments should exchange information on potential floods, she said.

It has been claimed that the Haor Development Board has contributed to the flood damage by failing to conduct adequate repairs on dams. But Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmood blamed the unusual timing of the onrush of waters from the rolling mountains.

The water flowing downstream from India flooded Sylhet’s wetlands around the end of March. The floods have led to significant loss of the rice harvest and the death of fish and waterfowl in those Haors.

Government estimates say a total of 219,840 hectares of farmland has been damaged by the floods and has led to the suffering of 850,088 families.

But visits to the backswamps have found major inconsistencies with the data provided by the Department of Agriculture, said ‘Environment and Haor Development Organisation’ Chairman Kashmir Reza.

“According to the agriculture department, 75 percent of paddy fields in the area have already been harvested. This is incorrect. Farmers have only been able to harvest 25 to 30 percent of their crops.”

“This is because the floods began 15-20 days earlier than the previous year. Last year, the floods came right before the harvest.”

According to their calculations, 2.2 million tonnes of rice and 1,000 tonnes of vegetables have been damaged, while 2,000 tonnes of fish and 30,000 ducks have died.

The organisation puts the total cost of the damage at Tk 130 billion.