People walk on a flooded road following incessant rains in Feni, a coastal district in southeastern Bangladesh bordering Tripura, on Thursday (August 22, 2024). | Photo credit: AP
Bangladesh Chief Advisor Prof. Mohammad Yunus on Thursday (August 22, 2024) met Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma in what the Indian side described as a “routine meeting”. The meeting came minutes after Prof. Yunus met his senior colleagues on the unprecedented floods in Bangladesh’s eastern districts, which his administration has blamed on India releasing water from neighbouring Tripura without “prior warning”. The meeting was scheduled for 4:30 pm Bangladesh time.
Information and Broadcasting Advisor Nahid Islam said that India has behaved inhumanly by releasing water without any prior warning. He said this while talking to the media in Dhaka.
The Foreign Ministry on Thursday (August 22, 2024) denied reports of flooding in eastern districts of Bangladesh due to the opening of the Dumbur dam in Tripura.
Rainfall has caused flooding in parts of West Tripura and Bangladesh in the last few days and is largely responsible for the flooding in downstream areas of Bangladesh. His statement said the Dumbur dam, a hydropower project, was “spontaneously releasing” water due to the rains.
Dumbanur Dam is a hydroelectric project and is built on the Gumti River which flows through India and Bangladesh.
Heavy rains have been lashing entire Tripura and neighbouring districts of Bangladesh since August 21. Incessant monsoon rains and floods have left nearly 3 million people stranded in Bangladesh and killed two people, inundated large areas and damaged homes and infrastructure, officials of the country’s disaster management ministry said on Thursday.