India to set up plant in Tripura to treat Akhaura canal water

India will set up a treatment plant in Tripura to treat polluted water flowing into Bangladesh through the Akhaura canal, an official said on Monday.

The plant will be constructed within two years.

"The Union Urban Development Ministry has sanctioned Rs 18.36 crore for the treatment plant in Agartala, for which the Municipal Corporation will soon float a tender," West Tripura District Magistrate Milind Ramteke told IANS.

"The move follows a request from the Bangladesh government.

"We told them that the process is on to set up the plant. We had earlier submitted a detailed project report to the union government," said Ramteke, who attended a District Magistrate-level meeting in Comilla in eastern Bangladesh on May 22, where Dhaka raised the issue.

The Akhaura canal was built by the erstwhile kings of princely Tripura to ferry goods to and from Bangladesh.

"After Partition, though transportation through the canal was stopped, dirty water from state capital Agartala continues to flow into Bangladesh through the channel," area resident Salil Debbarma said.

According to Bangladesh's Akhaura Dakshin (south) Union Board Chairman Mohammad Jallaluddin, over 1,500 hectares of crop land is irrigated by the canal water in his country.

"As the canal water is very dirty, it impacts the health of thousands of Bangladeshis. Hence, the water must be treated before it flows into Bangladesh," Jallaluddin told IANS on phone.

Besides the Akhaura canal, many other canals and rivulets and eight major rivers flow from Tripura to Bangladesh.

--IANS

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