Long march held demanding demolition of dams built by India

Hundreds of students and people on Friday held a long march from Dhaka to Cumilla, holding rallies along the way in an effort to mobilise support in favour of their demand for demolishing dams built by India on common rivers.

They said that India built the dams unilaterally on the common rivers controlling natural flow of the rivers violating international laws on fair share of water of common rivers.

Inqilab Mancha, a platform of students from different universities, organised the long march towards Dumboor Dam in Tripura.

Students and the people gathered in front of the Bangladesh National Museum at Shahbagh in the morning and started the march with 10 trucks towards Chalk Bazar in Cumilla.

The platform’s spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi said at a rally before the march that according to the international laws, no country could build dams unilaterally on common rivers.

‘For more than 50 years, India has built dams one after another on each of our transboundary rivers without informing us, without calling us,’ said Hadi.

The spokesperson demanded that all the Indian dams built unilaterally and illegally on the common rivers must be demolished.

Tansen Rose, an executive member of the platform, said that India must stop water aggression in Bangladesh.

During the long march, they also held rallies at Jatrabari in the capital Dhaka and at town hall in Cumilla.

The long march was scheduled to end at Bibir Bazar after the town hall’s rally.

The rally, however, ended at Chalk Bazar in Cumilla.

Sharif said that they ended their rally after the authorities’ assured them of taking measures over their 5-point demand.

The demands are demolition of Indian dams on transboundary rivers involving the United Nations and all international forums, signing the UN Watercourses Convention and demanding compensation from India, implementation of the Teesta Mega Project, making a new list of all transboundary rivers, and taking India to the International Court of Justice over the ongoing border killings.

At a separate rally in Feni, people demanded India’s trial in the international court for water aggression, compensation for the victims and demolition of Indian dams on common rivers through their 11-point charter of demands, reported New Age correspondent in Feni.

Citizens’ platform ‘Amra Fenibashi’ organised the rally titled ‘Strike for Water Justice’ on the Feni Shaheed Minar premises.

Stamford University Bangladesh environmental science department dean Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder presided over the rally and accused India of causing the recent flash flood in the east, south-eastern and north-east districts in Bangladesh.

He said that India could not avoid its responsibility for the flood as the flood was not only natural.

People of 11 districts, including Feni, suffered psychological, physical and financial losses due to the flood, he added.

Kamruzzaman also demanded steps from the international community for proper compensation and removal of dams from common rivers.

River and water expert Mohammad Ejaz said that the recent flood was an example of the fact that India could put the people of Bangladesh in danger controlling the dams.

He also accused the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina of playing a role in destroying rivers and supporting India on the water issue.

The other demands included protecting and rebuilding the dam on the no-man’s land at Muhuri’s Char, which was cut by India, ensuring Bangladesh’s fair share of water, and stopping illegal water extraction from the Feni River, taking effective measures immediately to prevent riverbank erosion and, rebuilding the Musapur Closure and others.

The recent flash flood in Bangladesh left 71 people dead and about 6 million affected.