New Delhi has been accused by its neighbor of opening the dam on a shared river, leading to devastating floods
The Indian government has denied allegations that it was responsible for devastating floods in neighboring Bangladesh, which have affected millions of people.
Dhaka claims that the flooding was caused by a decision to open the Dumbur dam on the Gumti River in Tripura, a state that shares an 800km-long border with Bangladesh. The allegations were rejected by New Delhi on Thursday.
The flooding occurred weeks after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign amid political upheaval. He fled to India, and an interim government led by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed Yunus has been set up in Bangladesh.
Mohammad Nahid Islam, an adviser to the interim government, claimed on Thursday that India had opened a dam without any prior warning that would have given Bangladesh “scope to prepare.”
“India has displayed non-cooperation and an inhuman attitude by opening a dam all of a sudden,” Nahid said, as quoted by Protom Ato newspaper.
His remarks came after students from several universities staged protests over India’s role in the floods, demanding fair water-sharing agreements with New Delhi – a longstanding issue in the bilateral ties between the neighboring countries.
The Indian Foreign Ministry claimed in response that the allegations were “factually not correct.” According to New Delhi, the catchment areas of Gumti River flowing through India and Bangladesh have witnessed “the heaviest rains of this year” in the past few days, and this caused the floods. The ministry also noted that the Dumbur dam is located over 120km upstream from Bangladesh, and far from the border.
The Indian state of Tripura, where the dam is located, has been ravaged by severe flooding since the beginning of this week, and more than 1.7 million people have been affected, according to the state government.
“Floods on the common rivers between India and Bangladesh are a shared problem inflicting suffering to people on both sides, and [require] close mutual cooperation towards resolving them,” New Delhi said, adding that it wished to resolve the issues through “bilateral consultations and technical discussions.”
India’s relations with Bangladesh have been complicated by the ouster of Hasina, with whom New Delhi enjoyed strong ties. Earlier this week, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the principal opposition force in the country, has called on New Delhi to extradite the former prime minister, who is being investigated for her role in the deaths of more than 400 people in the student-led protests.
On Thursday, the interim government revoked the diplomatic passports of Hasina, her government’s cabinet ministers, and members of parliament from her party, the Awami League.
