Bangladesh has raised objections to the discharging of untreated sewage and contaminated water from Agartala through Kathakhal and Kalipinya rivulets, which served as waterways before Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971. The objection was raised during a meeting of deputy commissioners in Agartala on Thursday. The meeting between Brahamanbaria (Bangladesh) DC Noor Mohammed Majumder and West Tripura district magistrate Kiran Gitte was held after a gap of nine years, reports The Times of India.
Both the rivulets and River Howrah drain out the state’s total waste as Agartala has not yet developed a Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) for its 5 lakh population. Neither has it developed a flowing water contamination control mechanism in accordance with the International Water Discharging Protocol.
Gitte, however, said an STP is coming up in the northern part of the city to cater to about 1,200 households. The Agartala Municipal Council is also setting up an STP for the central zone to stop the flow of untreated sewage into the neighbouring country.
“We have given our city development plans, including sewage treatment plant and river water management plan,
to the delegation from Bangladesh and sought time to resolve it,” Gitte told the media in Majumder’s presence.
According to the Tripura Pollution Control Board, more than a 100 families are still discharging wastes into River Howrah, which flows into Bangladesh.
“Earlier, we identified about 1,200 households along riverbanks who were directly discharging human waste into the river. After the municipal council set up toilets that problem has been solved. But even then Howrah’s pollution level is high,” said Mihir Deb, chairman of the pollution control board.
Gitte assured his counterpart that the West Tripura administration would take action either to completely stop the flow of water or treat the water that will enter Bangladesh. He said they would do a technical survey.
It was decided at the meeting that as many as 373 border pillars which were damaged or missing, would be replaced or repaired. After 2004, this is the first DC-level meet where border management got top priority — from border pillar repair to cross-border crime and smuggling.
Majumder said fencing is almost complete along West Tripura and Brahamanbaria and that zero line single-fencing would be done at the Akhaura check post soon.
The identification of graveyards of Bangladeshi freedom fighters in Tripura was also discussed. The West Tripura administration had located only two graveyards in Agartala while assuring that they would find more in other parts.
“We are committed to identifying the graves of the martyrs who died during the Bangladesh liberation struggle in 1971,” said Gitte.
The Bangladesh delegation also expressed concern over the high incidence of smuggling of contraband cough syrup, Phensidyl, from Tripura to Bangladesh and urged both the
Tripura government and the Centre to take immediate action.
-With The Independent input
