Teesta water level halves in a day

Water levels in the mercurial Teesta river have dramatically risen and fallen with a span of a few hours. On Wednesday, the water level dropped by almost half of what it was after showing a sharp rise on Tuesday. The flow rate had abruptly risen to 3,006 cusecs on Tuesday when the BNP set out on a ‘long march’ demanding a fair share of the river water. But the flow, coming into Bangladesh from India, began ebbing from Wednesday morning. The water level was 1,242 cusecs around 12pm, Teesta Barrage Sub Divisional Engineer Moin Uddin Mandal told bdnews24.com. He said the level was at 3,050 cusecs even on Tuesday. “(We) diverted the full flow to the irrigation channels by closing all barrage gates as the water level fell on Wednesday.” That reduced the level to less than a foot near at the Teesta railway and road bridges at Rangpur’s Kaunia point.