It is home to about one-third of the country’s population.

It mentioned that during the 1970s, the construction of the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal, India diverted 35,000 to 40,000 cusecs of water from the Padma-Ganga to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly rivers during the dry season to maintain the navigability of the Kolkata port.

As a result, the dry season flow of the Padma River in the Bangladesh part of the country decreased significantly and the major rivers in the southwest and northwest started drying up. As a result, agriculture, fisheries, forest resources, shipping, domestic water availability and the overall ecosystem were severely affected.

The Planning Commission also said that due to the decrease in the flow of freshwater, salinity in the rivers and canals of the southern region increased during the dry season, which posed a major threat to livelihoods, biodiversity and the Sundarbans.

According to the commission, it is important to ensure sustainable water resource management in the greater Rajshahi, Pabna, Kushtia, Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur and Barisal regions, as the Padma is the main source of surface freshwater in these areas.