‘India didn’t do right by opening Farakka’

India did not do the right thing by opening the Farakka barrage, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said today reflecting on the flood situation it has caused in Bangladesh.

They (Indian authorities) should be informed of the losses incurred here, he told reporters while distributing aid to flood victims in Kushtia, according to a press release floated this evening.

Padma river, that originates in the Himalayas and flows through India as the Ganges, has swelled up dangerously because India has opened the sluice gates of the Farakka barrage.

It is reported that India has opened up the Farakka to control the flood situation in its Bihar state. Hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh’s Kushtia and Rajshahi have been affected.

“Withdrawing water and then releasing it one-sidedly is not a right thing to do. They (India) have opened up the sluice gates one-sidedly,” Inu told reporters.

The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will take necessary steps according to plan to rehabilitate the flood victims permanently, the minister added.