The full benefits of the project cannot be achieved solely with water retained during the monsoon season. If water is not received on the basis of a fair share, alternative measures will have to be determined. If the project is undertaken, the extent of environmental damage and the impacts upstream and downstream of the barrage must also be identified. There are many issues involved, including whether water will come from India, river erosion, silt removal, and increasing salinity in the coastal areas.

For the past 16 years, I have closely observed the country’s largest irrigation project, the Teesta Irrigation Project. I have seen how cruelly India treats Bangladesh regarding river issues. I also have extensive knowledge of how the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has virtually destroyed around 20 distributaries and tributaries of the Teesta River. Because of the grim reality surrounding the Teesta River and the Teesta Irrigation Project, several questions keep popping up in my mind regarding the Padma Barrage Project.

According to a report published in Prothom Alo, the Padma Barrage Project was originally supposed to be undertaken in 1961. Later, in 2002–2003, the BNP-led government began work on the barrage. Its feasibility was also assessed during the subsequent Awami League government. In line with its election pledge, the current government is now taking up the Padma Barrage Project. It is being said that, once implemented, the project will make it possible to irrigate 2.9 million hectares of land. Navigability will be restored in five important rivers, and a small hydropower project will also be established.