Farakka Barrage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Page 1 of 3

Coordinates: 244816N 875559E

Farakka Barrage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 at a cost of 156.49 crore (US$25 million).
Operations began on April 21, 1975. The barrage is

Farakka Barrage

about 2,240 metres (7,350 ft) long.[1] The feeder canal

from the barrage to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River is
about 25 miles (40 km) long.[2]
The purpose of the barrage is to divert 1,100 cubic
metres per second (40,000 cu ft/s) of water from the
Ganges to the Hooghly River for flushing out the
sediment deposition from the Kolkata harbour without
the need of regular mechanical dredging. After
commissioning the project, it is found that the
diverted water flow from the Farakka barrage is not
adequate to flush the sediment from the river
satisfactorily. In addition, there are regular land/bank
collapses in to the Ganga river due to the high level
back waters of the Farakka barrage. Substantial high
land is already converted in to low level river bed

Location

causing displacement of huge population.[3] The water

diverted from the Farakka barrage is less than 10% of

Murshidabad & Malda, West

Bengal, India

Coordinates

244816N 875559E

[4]

Ganga river water available at Farakka. Indian

government is contemplating to cement
line/widen/deepen the Farakka feeder canal to
increase the flow.

Location of Farakka Barrage

Construction began 1961

Opening date

1972

Construction cost

Rs. 156.49 crore

Dam and spillways

Impact

Impounds

Ganges River

Length

2,240 metres (7,350 ft)

The Ganges is one of the major rivers of the world. It

rises at an elevation of about 12,769 feet (3,892 m) in
Gangotri on the southern slope of the Himalayan range. About one third of the total population of
Bangladesh and about 50% of the Indian population live in the Ganges basin; 43% of the 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 how to share the water. Right
from the beginning, this created a concern for Bangladesh as it constitutes the low-lying part of
Gangotri. After the completion of the barrage at 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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farakka_Barrage

11/1/2014

Farakka Barrage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Page 2 of 3

season of 1975 under an accord announced as a joint press release on 18 April 1975. But after the
assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975, relations between the 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 1977, Bangladesh went to
the United Nations and lodged a formal protest against India with the General Assembly of The United
Nations, which adopted a consensus statement on November 26, 1976. Talks between the two countries
were resumed in December 1976. No consensus was reached.[5]
Twenty years later, in 1996, a 30-year agreement was signed. It did not contain any guarantee clause for
minimum amounts of water to be supplied to Bangladesh, nor were future hydrological parameters taken
into account. As a result, the agreement failed to provide the expected result.[6] 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.[7] Lower levels of soil
moisture along with increased salinity have also led to desertification.[8]
The barrage was constructed by Hindustan Construction Company. It has 109 gates and the two which
collapsed were erected in 1975. Out of 109 gates, 108 are over the river and the 109th one over the low
lying land in Malda, as a precaution. The Barrage serves water to the Farakka Super Thermal Power
Station. There are also sixty canals which can divert the water to other destinations.
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
Sharing the water of the Ganges
Indian Rivers Inter-link
Kalpasar Project See Talk page also
List of longest bridges in the world
List of longest bridges above water in India

References
1. ^ "Farakka Barrage Project Farakka" (http://mowr.gov.in/index3.asp?
sslid=296&subsublinkid=714&langid=1).
2. ^ Salman, Salman M. A.; Uprety, Kishor (2002). Conflict and cooperation on South Asia's international
rivers: a legal perspective (http://books.google.com/books?id=8GEr4fyDbqgC&pg=PA135). World Bank
Publications. pp. 135136. ISBN 978-0-8213-5352-3. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
3. ^ "The Encroaching Ganga and Social Conflicts: The Case of West Bengal,
India." (http://gangapedia.iitk.ac.in/sites/default/files/Rudra.pdf). Retrieved 23 May 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farakka_Barrage

11/1/2014

Farakka Barrage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Page 3 of 3

4. ^ "Ganga river water flow data at Farakka,

India." (http://www.compositerunoff.sr.unh.edu/html/Polygons/P2846800.html). Retrieved 26 May 2014.
5. ^ A.T Abbas, B.M; The Ganges Water Dispute; pp 5, 9, 10. University Press limited, Dhaka (1984)
6. ^ Nurul Kobir, a journalist of Bangladesh on first day of India-Bangladesh dialogue held 78 November on
Dhaka
7. ^ Wolf, Aaron T. Water and Human Security. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education.
118. (2001): 29.
8. ^ "Indo-Bangladesh Common Rivers: The Impact on Bangladesh." Contemporary South Asia. 1. 2. (1992):5.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Farakka_Barrage&oldid=630022372"

Categories: Dams in West Bengal Barrages BangladeshIndia relations Water and politics
Murshidabad district

This page was last modified on 17 October 2014 at 20:02.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms
may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a
registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farakka_Barrage

11/1/2014