On Thursday, India dismissed allegations that the recent flooding in Bangladesh was caused by the release of water from a dam on the Gumti River in Tripura. The Ministry of External Affairs clarified that the floods in Bangladesh were actually due to heavy rainfall in large downstream catchment areas.
The statement was issued following reports, primarily on Bangladeshi social media, that claimed the flooding was triggered by the opening of the Dumbur dam in Tripura. Some of these reports even suggested that India took this step in response to the recent ousting of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5 after a student-led uprising.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated that these concerns are “factually incorrect” and highlighted that the Gumti River, which flows through both nations, had experienced its heaviest rainfall of the year in recent days. The flooding in Bangladesh, the statement emphasized, was mainly due to this heavy rainfall downstream of the dam.
India maintains three water level observation sites along the 120-km stretch of the Gumti River at Amarpur, Sonamura, and Sonamura 2. “Heavy rainfall has been continuing since August 21 across Tripura and adjacent districts in Bangladesh, leading to automatic releases from the dam,” the statement added.
The Amarpur observation station operates under a bilateral protocol where India provides real-time flood data to Bangladesh. Despite a power outage due to flooding that disrupted communication on August 21, efforts were made to maintain contact through alternative means to ensure urgent data transmission.
The statement concluded by acknowledging that floods in rivers shared by India and Bangladesh are a “shared problem” affecting people on both sides of the border, necessitating close cooperation. India remains committed to resolving water resource and river management issues through bilateral discussions, with the exception of the Teesta River, where an agreement has been stalled since 2011 due to opposition from West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.
