by OMAR HUDA
As it is, large swaths of land in the south of Bangladesh are poised to go under due to sea level rise. I saw it happening first hand in Paikgacha, Khulna, place of my grandparents. Sea water that came in during the cyclone last year, has not receded. Most of the shrimp farms are now part of Bay of Bengal! By 2050, they say, as many as 60 million will become landless refugees. Where will they go? India now has electronic fences all around Bangladesh border (thanks to Israeli contribution!).
Many parts of North Bengal literally becomes desert in winter due to Farakka Dam that West Bengal constructed in the 1960s to flush Hoogley port during dry winter months. Little came out of decades of bi-lateral negotiations between India and Bangladesh. India will not accept international mediation either. And now this? I sincerely hope India will not be that heartless – nor will she simply brush off International laws governing shared water.
I have a suggestion: The US Congress should allow immigration of 2-3 million people per year from Bangladesh! Ya, right!
Or perhaps India should settle the displaced Bangladeshis in India. Ya, right! Her own people displaced due to Narmada Dam are yet to be resettled! Ask Arundhati Roy!
A Nazrul song comes to mind:
“Ganges, Sindh, Narmada, Kaberi, Jamuna —
Still flow as they did for millennium
But where are all the good people who lived along their banks?”
Well, to answer poet Nazrul Islam , if these rivers were not to flow any more like they have for millennium – if this dream project is implemented – the “good people” he asks about would be irrelevant!