e_Paper, Sunday, April 16, 2017

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SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2017
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Government planning barrage on Brahmaputra
• Abu Siddique
The government is looking at the
prospect of building a barrage on
the Brahmaputra River.
The probable location of the barrage
might be Bahadurabad point
on the river’s left bank or Fulchhari
point on the right bank in Kurigram
district. It will ensure irrigation to
17 northern districts during the dry
season.
The Water Resources Ministry has
already called for ‘expression of
interest’ letters from interested organisations
to conduct a feasibility
study on the planned infrastructure.
The cost of the feasibility
study has been estimated to be Tk
100cr.
“The Brahmaputra barrage is
necessary to supply water to the
northwest as well as north central
region of the country,” Md Aminul
Haque, the project director, told
the Dhaka Tribune.
“We are trying to have the barrage
somewhere between Bangabandhu
Bridge and Bahadurabad
point of the river,” he added.
The Brahmaputra is a major
trans-boundary river and contributes
to about two-third of the total
dry season water flow in Bangladesh.
The project will involve a detailed
feasibility study, socio-economic,
environment, and other hydraulic
and hydro-morphological
surveys and studies, said Aminul
Haque.
Hydrologist Prof Ainun Nishat,
however, observed that the authorities
should first ensure the
‘The locations proposed for the barrage and
the proposed irrigation areas go against the
general rules of gravitational flow’
economic, social and environmental
viability of the barrage.
An expert, on condition of anonymity,
also noted that the locations
proposed for the barrage and
the proposed irrigation areas go
against the general rules of gravitational
flow.
Many districts where the irrigation
water is to be diverted are at a
higher plane than the sea-level in
comparison to the proposed barrage
points, the expert added.
The length of the trans-boundary
Brahmaputra, from its source in
southwestern Tibet to the mouth
at the Bay of bengal is about 2,900
km. The length of the Brahmaputra
inside Bangladesh is about 240km
with a catchment area of about
The government plans to construct a barrage on the Brahmaputra River to ensure irrigation in northern districts during the
dry season. The file photo was taken at the Jamalpur point of the river on July 30, 2015
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
39,100 square km, according to
project documents.
A study of the Center for Environmental
and Geographic Information
Services (CEGIS) said
the average width of the river had
increased from 8.5km in 1973 to
12.2km in 2009 due to the erosion.
Petition to keep Bangladeshi youth in UK
gains 23,000 signatures
• Tribune Desk
A petition to grant a London-based
Bangladeshi teenager the indefinite
right to stay in the UK has
gained over 23,000 signatures and
counting, after he was told he faces
deportation due to “close family
ties to Bangladesh.”
Abdul Hassan, 18, has been living
in the UK since he was five years old.
He applied to remain in the UK on
the grounds of his residency in 2016.
The application was denied by
the Home Office as “it did not meet
the rules and because he has close
family ties to Bangladesh,” a UK
Home Office spokesperson said as
quoted by the Huffington Post.
Abdul’s visitor visa expired in
2004, the Home Office official said.
However, Abdul has not seen
any of his family in Bangladesh
since he was a small child, when he
left for the UK with his father, who
was in need of medical treatment,
and his schizophrenic mother.
His parents then returned to
Bangladesh, where his father has
since died and his mother’s mental
condition deteriorated, while Abdul
stayed back and has been living
in Britain with his aunt.
“Me and my family were just really
shocked. Just devastated when
they rejected my initial application,”
Abdul told the Huffington Post.
“I thought they would grant me
indefinite leave to remain.”
Upon receiving news of the
impending deportation, Abdul’s
friend Hector O’Shea began an online
petition to help the teenager
remain in the country. Should the
petition gain more than 25,000
signatures, it shall be formally delivered
to British Home Secretary
Amber Rudd for consideration.
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing
Abdul for the last seven years,
as a close friend and strong fellow
student. He is one of the hardest
working people and his care for
others is second to none,” O’Shea
The location the government
is considering for setting up the
infrastructure is around 10km in
width.
The water of Brahmaputra,
known as Tsangpo-Brahmaputra
river in China, are shared by China,
India, and Bangladesh. In the
said in the petition in an endorsement
of Abdul’s character.
O’Shea added that Abdul had obtained
an ABB in his A levels, considered
exceptional grades, and an
apprenticeship with the global auditing
firm KPMG, a promising future
that has been thrown into limbo
by the deportation order in spite
of the UK being “the only home he
had known for most of his life.”
“He is as much a part of British
society and culture as I am, and
I don’t have a word to say against
him and I’m sure no one else
would,” said O’Shea in the petition.
“Please help his situation by
signing this petition, in hope that
the tribunal see how many people
see Abdul as part of their lives and
part of the United Kingdom.” •
1990s and 2000s, there had been
repeated speculations that China
was building a dam on the river to
divert the waters to its northern
territory.
Finally in 2010, China confirmed
it was indeed building the Zangmu
Dam on the Brahmaputra in Tibet. •
BUSINESS SUPPLEMENT
Hi-tech parks to make
Bangladesh IT hub › 2
‘Digital Bangladesh
largely depends on
the success of hi-tech
parks’ › 3
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