Concern over Bangladesh embankment along river on Tripura border

GUWAHATI A high-level delegation on Sunday (April 20, 2025) visited southern Tripura to assess the flood protection measures after a massive embankment being constructed by the Bangladesh government along a border river triggered flood worries in the State.

The flood-prone Muhuri River runs along much of the stretch of the India-Bangladesh border in the South Tripura district. Residents of the district headquarters, Belonia and other border villages close to the river raised an alarm a few days ago after the Bangladesh authorities started constructing an embankment on the opposite bank.

The catastrophic flood and landslides of August 2024, which damaged many river embankments along the India-Bangladesh border, worked on the minds of the border residents.

“We have identified 43 such locations in different districts, including South Tripura, where repair work has begun or will start soon. All the repairing and related works will be completed by June,” the State’s Public Works Department Secretary Kiran Gitte told journalists after meeting with the residents and public representatives.

“The work will be done around the clock. Five additional engineers will be posted in South Tripura, as the volume of work in the district is huge,” he said.

The Border Security Force’s Tripura Frontier Inspector General, Ashwani Kumar Sharma, accompanied Mr Gitte for the on-the-spot survey of the situation arising out of the embankment work on the Bangladesh side of the riverine border. Other officials included the district’s administrative and police chiefs, and senior officials of various departments concerned.

Centre’s attention sought

On Saturday (April 19, 2025), local CPI (M) legislator Dipankar Sen requested the South Tripura District Magistrate and senior officials of the BSF to draw the Centre’s attention to the flood threat posed by the embankment work in Bangladesh, so that the issue could be taken up with Dhaka.

Congress leaders in northern Tripura’s Unakoti district also sought the Centre’s intervention in a similar embankment constructed by Bangladesh, threatening district headquarters Kailashahar and several border villages. The party organised a series of agitations to underscore the gravity of the issue.

“Bangladesh is constructing these embankments unilaterally,” senior party leader and former minister Birajit Sinha said.

Earlier, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha apprised Home Minister Amit Shah of the embankment issue.

“The Chief Minister highlighted the potential impact of the Bangladeshi embankment in the Unakoti district and possible floods on the Indian side. He urged the Home Minister to take up the matter with Dhaka,” an official at the Chief Minister’s Office said.

The two countries agreed to construct mutually beneficial embankments along the Muhuri within their borders to stabilise the river prone to changing its course, after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Bangladesh in 2011.