Dhaka, May 15 -- Tomorrow, 16 May, is the historic Farakka Long March Day. On this day in 1976, leader of the toiling masses Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani organized his mass rally from Rajshahi to the Kansat border of Chapai-Nawabganj to protest the unilateral withdrawal of Ganges river water by India and publicly raised the demand for water rights of the people of Bangladesh.

After the long march, President Ziaur Rahman's government raised the Ganges water issue at the United Nations. And in its wake, the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty of 1977 was signed. The 30-year Ganges Water Treaty signed in 1996 will expire in December this year.

Farakka Committee urges alarm over successive floods,drought in the Teesta Basin

The leaders of the ...