The flow of the once-mighty river has decreased alarmingly due to withdrawal of water at Farakka point in India, leading to drying up of at least 15 of its tributaries.

The country got only 15,118 cusec water on an average during the last 10-day spell of water-sharing during dry season (December-April) under the agreement signed with India in 1996.

The water flow at Hardinge Bridge point yesterday was 17,000 cusec, according to an official record.

"The quantity of water at the (Farakka) point has been declining every year due to withdrawal of Ganges water at the upper riparian through various canals by violating Article 2(2) of the treaty," Director of Joint River Commission (JRC) Mir Sajjad Hossain told a group of journalists at the Hardinge Bridge point recently.

According to historical average of the Ganges flow, Bangladesh should have got 27,633 cusec water during the period, he said during the visit by officials of Water Development Board (WDB) and JRC.

"It is true we have been receiving our own water share at the Farakka point according to the accord, but water diversion from the Ganges through various means at upper riparian points has been depriving Bangladesh of its just share", he said.

Bangladesh in a letter to India has protested the withdrawal of water and the issue will be raised at the May 3 meeting of the Ganges Water Sharing Accord Implementation Committee, other officials said.

They said as per the agreement, Bangladesh was supposed to get at least 39,000 cusec water during every dry season, but it never got it.

Bangladesh got 29,000 cusec in 1997; 38,685 in 1998; 33,892 in 1999; 35,509 in 2000; 19,898 in 2001; 34,725 in 2003; 25,000 in 2004 and 19,000 cusec in 2005 at Hardinge Bridge point, sources said.

According to Kushtia WDB, the southwestern region of the country is fully dependent on the Padma river.

At least seven out of 15 tributaries of the Padma have already dried up. Theses are Hisna, Kaliganga, Kumar, Hamkura, Harihar, Bhairab and Chitra.