As India continues taking unilateral steps on shared rivers, experts and activists are urging Bangladesh to intensify its struggle for fair water rights, warning that the country’s environment and the lives of millions are at serious risk.

Speaking at an event on Saturday, they called for stronger public mobilisation and basin-based joint management of the 54 rivers shared with India.

They also pointed out that the only existing water-sharing deal—the Ganges Water Treaty—is set to expire in December 2026, making a fresh agreement all the more urgent.

The calls were made at the launch of a memorial book on Atiqur Rahman Salu at the Jatiya Press Club.

Speakers alleged that India, without any bilateral agreement, has built dams upstream and regularly diverts water during the dry season, choking Bangladesh’s rivers and worsening environmental degradation.

In contrast, they pointed out, India releases sudden torrents of water during the rainy season without prior warning, leading to devastating floods and river erosion downstream.

They stressed that the solution lies in basin-based joint river management, ensuring that both upstream and downstream nations benefit, and that rivers remain ecologically alive from their Himalayan origins to the sea.

The memorial book on Atiqur Rahman Salu, featuring a foreword by Emeritus Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, carries 30 articles highlighting his lifelong struggle for river water rights in Bangladesh. His work was described as a model of unwavering activism that will continue to inspire future generations.

Salu had envisioned organising another mass gathering like the one held in Chilmari on March 4, 2005, where a million people rallied to demand fair water sharing.

That event echoed the historic Farakka Long March led by Maulana Bhashani in 1976, which paved the way for the 1977 Ganga Water Treaty.

Saturday’s event was organised by the International Farakka Committee (IFC), Bangladesh. IFC New York Chairman Syed Tipu Sultan presided over the programme, while Mostafa Kamal Majumder, President of IFC Bangladesh, moderated it.

 Dr Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Mostafa Jamal Haider, Chairman, Jatiya Party (Zafar), Professor Jasim Uddin Ahmad, Chief Adviser, IFC Bangladesh, Professor Shahria Akhtar Bulu, former MP, Farida Eusufzai, wife of Atiqur Rahman Salu and publisher of the book; Mostafafizur Rahman Iran, Chairman, Bangladesh Labour Party; Kamrul Huda, editor of the book, among others, attended the event.

Others who spoke at the event included Gias Ahmed (Bhashani Foundation, New York), Principal Sheikh Firoz Ahmad, Professor Israrul Haque, Kamal Uddin Chowdhury, Principal Abdul Mannan Khan, Advocate Mujibur Rahman, Jamaluddin Jamal, Rafiqul Islam Azad, and Ataur Rahman Ata, according to press release.