Farakka Barrage

Farakka Barrage
Location of Farakka Barrage
Location	West Bengal, India
Coordinates	24°48′16″N 87°55′59″E
Construction began	1961
Opening date	1975
Construction cost	Rs. 156.49 crore
Dam and spillways
Length	2,240 metres (7,350 ft)
Impounds	Ganges River

Farakka Barrage is a barrage across the Ganges River, located in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly 16.5 kilometres (10.3 mi) from the border with Bangladesh near Chapai Nawabganj District. Construction was started in 1961 and completed in 1975. Operations began on April 21, 1975. The barrage is about 2,240 metres (7,350 ft) long. The feeder canal from the barrage to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River is about 25 miles (40 km) long.

Purpose

The barrage was built to divert up to 40,000 cu ft/s (1,100 m³/s) of water from the Ganges River into the Hooghly River during the dry season, from January to June, in order to flush out the accumulating silt which in the 1950s and 1960s was a problem at the Port of Kolkata (Calcutta) on the Hooghly River. The Hooghly River divides Murshidabad and Malda districts of West Bengal.

Impact

The Ganges is one of the major rivers of the world. It rises at an elevation of about 23,000 feet in Gangotri on the southern slope of the Himalayan range. About one third of the total population of Bangladesh and about 50% of Indian population live in the Ganges basin; 43% of total irrigated area in the country is also in the Ganges basin and there are about 100 urban settlements with a total population of about 120 million on its banks. As a result, Bangladesh and India have had many debates about how the Farakka Barrage cuts off Bangladesh's water supply and the sharing the water of the Ganges. Right from the beginning, this created a concern for Bangladesh as it constitutes the low-lying part of Gangotri. After its completion by the end of 1975, it was agreed to run it with specified discharges for a period of 41 days from 21 April to 31 May during the remaining period of the dry season of 1975 under an accord announced as joint press release on 18 April 1975. But after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975, relations between two countries became greatly strained and India continued to withdraw water even after the agreed period. The diversions led to a crisis situation in Bangladesh in the dry season of 1976. In 1976, Bangladesh went to the United Nations and lodged a formal protest against India with General Assembly of The United Nations, which adopted a consensus statement on November 26, 1976. Later talks between two countries were resumed in December 1976. But two countries failed to come into a consensus.

In 1996, a 30-year agreement was signed. It did not contain any guarantee clause for minimum amount of water on Bangladesh and future hydrological parameters were not taken into account. As a result, failed to provide the expected result. Negotiations continue to the present today. In Bangladesh, the diversion has raised salinity levels, contaminated fisheries, hindered navigation, and posed a threat to water quality and public health. Lower levels of soil moisture along with increased salinity have also led to desertification.

The barrage was constructed by Hindustan Construction Company. It has 123 gates and it serves water to the Farakka Super Thermal Power Station. There are also sixty canals which can divert the water to another place.

The "rice bowl of India", West Bengal, has water supplied via its vast rivers. Food crops, fish stocks, trade, transportation, nature, environment, flora, and fauna are part of people's life lines that are the inhabitants in this area and by extension inhabitants, elsewhere. These groups are both directly dependent on the river system of the West Bengal region.

See also

• List of longest bridges in the world
• List of longest bridges above water in India