Sankar Kumar Ray says, I have two questions about the reliability of this news item. Firstly,the opinion of so-called heavy withdrawal of water from Indian side of Teesta is difficult to accept.Extensive boro (summer) paddy cultivation which itself is very harmful ( the basis of anthropogenic roots of arsenic pollution in ground water) is based mostly on lift water and not flow water. In West Bengal, the marked increase in winter paddy and wheat cultivation is also based on shallow tube wells and not flow water. Teesta or Ganga has no relationship with this.

Secondly, why shouldn't our friends in Bangladesh think of reviewing the justification of encouraging Boro paddy cultivation which is destroying the agrochemical equilibrium of soil, including fertility. Rather, we should think of campaign against boro paddy cultivation in India and Bangladesh. I would like Subrata Sinha, Devashis Chatterjee and Prof Khaleq to throw light on this.

This was in response to what Zakir Kibria cited with regard to Fall of water in Teesta threatens irrigation
from NewAge, February 14, 2004. Dhaka, Bangladesh

Kibria quoted, Depletion of water in the once mighty Teesta river has threatened irrigation on about four lakh acres of land for the production of Boro paddy in the command areas of the Teesta Barrage under 12 upazilas of Nilphamari, Rangpur and Dinajpur districts during the current dry season.

Water experts attributed the drastic fall in the water level of Teesta to unilateral withdrawal of water by India in the upstream.

Numerous shoals and sandy chars stretching miles after miles have emerged in both upstream and downstream of the river where nothing but deep water was visible only a couple of years ago.

There should be 15,000 cusecs water at the Teesta Barrage point during the dry season. But the flow of water at this point is now only 750 cusecs on an average.

The precariously low level of water in the river Teesta and its tributaries is forcing many peasants to carry water in buckets for irrigation purpose.
Twenty-one mile long canal in Nilphamari, 26-mile long canal in Dinajpur and 18-mile long canal in Rangpur were dug for the supply of irrigation water to about 2 lakh 70 thousand acres of land.

The digging of these canals by the Water Development Board entailed an expenditure of Tk 1,100 crores.
Availability of required amount of irrigation water would have enabled the farmers to produce additional 4 lakh 90 thousand tonnes of paddy and 82 thousand tonnes of wheat valued at Tk 450 crores.
Many tributaries of the Teesta and other rivers have almost become dry due to unilateral withdrawal of water by the Indian side in the upstream.

Realising the gravity of the situation on the water front, a large number of peasants of this region have switched over to the cultivation of tobacco.

P.S: This exchange took place on the river link discussion group.