Teesta, a knot that just won’t unravel
After a gap of over 12 long years, Bangladesh and India will hold a minister-level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission in New Delhi on August 25 to discuss unresolved issues of water sharing of transboundary rivers.
Dhaka expects to conclude the negotiations on six transboundary rivers, which have been going on for more than two decades. Besides, the much-talked Teesta water-sharing treaty will also be discussed.
Sources, however, said the Teesta deal will not be signed at the meeting but Bangladesh will keep pressing its neighbour for it.
The secretary-level talks of the JRC start in New Delhi today.
Contacted, Mahmudur Rahman, member of JRC, Bangladesh, said, "We finalised the Teesta water-sharing deal in 2010 and we are still waiting to sign it."
The Teesta deal fell through in 2011 as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee vetoed the deal at the last minute on the grounds that her state needed more water from the river. Since then, Bangladesh has been perusing the deal with no headway.
Seeking anonymity, an official working with the JRC, Bangladesh, said this time the main focus of the talks would be water-sharing of six common rivers -- the Muhuri, Monu, Dharla, Khowai, Gumti and Dudhkumar.
Besides, the two sides could finalise a deal on withdrawal of water from Kushiyara river for irrigation of 5,000 hectares of farmland in the bordering areas of Sylhet's Zakiganj upazila. The deal could be signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's India visit on September 5-7, added the official.
"We hope to fix a time frame for finalising the deals on six transboundary rivers," said Malik Fida A Khan, a member of the JRC Technical Committee and executive director of Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services.
Also, the two sides could finalise a date for starting a joint study on the best use of water of the Padma, he said.
Officials at the water resources ministry said the Bangladesh side will voice its concern about industrial waste flowing into Bangladesh through bordering areas in Brahmanbaria's Akhaura upazila.
Dhaka will also ask for detailed flood forecast data from Delhi so that it can issue flashflood warnings in Sylhet and Rangpur regions at the right time.
State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque will lead a 17-member delegation at the ministerial talks with his Indian counterpart Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The water resources ministers of the two countries are co-chairs of the commission.
The previous minister-level meeting was held on March 17, 2010.
Bangladesh and India share 54 rivers. The two countries, however, have only one relevant treaty signed in 1996, which oversees the sharing of the Ganges water. The treaty will expire in 2026.
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