Iran Press/ Asia: Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief announced that floods killed 15 people, and more than 4.4 million people have been affected across 11 districts.
According to the ministry, as many as 887,629 families were trapped in floodwaters.
Meanwhile, Asif Mohammed, the leader of the student protests that ousted the former Prime Minister and who now sits in Bangladesh’s caretaker government, has accused India of causing the flood by deliberately releasing water from its dams.
The floods have devastated eastern Bangladesh at the same time the country is going through political turmoil after a lengthy and violent student protest that resulted in the country's former prime minister resigning and going into exile.
Kamrul Hasan, secretary of the ministry, told a press conference Friday at the secretariat that the situation has deteriorated notably in the eastern district of Feni with other eastern districts also experiencing widespread flooding, including Chattogram, Cumilla, Noakhali, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Brahmanbaria, Lakshmipur, Khagrachari and Cox's Bazar.
As an upper riparian state, India controls the flow of water through dams on the Ganges and its tributaries. In the past, similar accusations have surfaced, alleging that India, unable to manage upstream flooding, opens its dam gates, inundating lower and downstream areas in Bangladesh’s delta.
The Global Climate Risk Index has listed Bangladesh among the countries most vulnerable to disasters and climate change.
Meanwhile, across the border in India, Tripura state also has been hit hard by floods that have reportedly taken 23 lives since Monday.
Bangladesh isn’t the only country to have leveled such accusations. India also controls the upper reaches of major Pakistani rivers that flow through Punjab, which are vital to the country.
Indian foreign ministry has dismissed the charges, stating that the rains have been the primary cause and that the water release was part of pre-existing automatic procedures.
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