Dhaka bars water flow of 3 common rivers: Mamata writes to Modi

In an apparent bid to counter campaign against her for blocking the Teesta river water-sharing treaty, West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today said Dhaka has set up barrages and river-controlling structures affecting water flow of three common rivers.

In a three-page letter written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom she met for half an hour in New Delhi today, Mamata said Atrai, Tangon and Punarbhava originated in Bangladesh and then entered India before flowing back into that country but the natural flow of the water of the three rivers has been affected by barrages and river-controlling structures in the country.

In her letter, released at a press conference at New Delhi, she said that Bangladesh suddenly released heavy quantum of water from river-control structures in upstream areas on Atrai in the last week of April this year, resulting inundation of crops in West Bengal with the damage estimated at Rs 32.80 crore.

She also said the India-Bangladesh Ganga water-sharing treaty has not benefitted West Bengal or helped the navigability of Kolkata and Haldia ports.

Mamata asked the Indian government to prepare a comprehensive plan to address the problems, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

She alleged that sharp hiking of the import duty on mangoes from Malda district of West Bengal by Bangladesh government has hit the livelihood of lakhs of mango-growers on her side of the border.

Mamata has been facing criticism both in India and Bangladesh for repeatedly obstructing the signing of Teesta water-sharing deal since September 2011 and she refused to budge from her stand during talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Modi during Hasina's official visit to India in April this year.