India opens 109 gates of Farakka

India on Monday opened 109 gates of Farakka Barrage due to floods in Bihar and Jharkhand. About 11 lakh cusecs of water will enter Bangladesh in one day.

Due to the opening of the barrage, there is a risk of flooding in Murshidabad of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

India has claimed that information about the flood situation and landslides is being given to Bangladesh in advance.

On Monday, the barrage authorities said that there is water pressure due to floods in two neighboring states. However, it is a matter of relief that no onrush of water has come down from hills of Nepal yet. In Farakka barrage area, the gate has to be forced to open as the water is flowing 77.34 meters above the danger level. In that case, the amount of water in the feeder canal has also been increased.

Farakka Barrage is located on the Ganga River in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, India, about 18 km from the border of Bangladesh. The construction of this barrage started in 1962. The barrage, built at a cost of about one billion US dollars, was completed in 1970 and the operation of the barrage officially began on 21 April 1975.