West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has had her way on the Teesta water-sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh, a top minister in the Union Cabinet said on Monday.
The agreement on sharing of the waters of the Teesta between the two neighbours has been held up for 15 years. India managed a breakthrough in March 2010, and the agreement was expected to be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit starting tomorrow.
But foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai conceded the pact may not be considered this time. “Any agreement with Bangladesh will be done in consultation with the Government of West Bengal. The Teesta water sharing issue is being dealt with by the ministry of water resources. We are consulting and we will continue to consult the West Bengal government on the issue.”
Union Ministers said there was ‘miscommunication’ between the Centre and the state on the sensitive issue. Sources close to Banerjee claimed there was a difference between the initial draft of the agreement and the final version. “The state government had agreed on sharing of upto 25,000 cusecs. But the final version talks of sharing 33,000-50,000 cusecs. She feels this will hurt West Bengal's interests.”
The real story, however, is that the Union ministry of water resources strained every nerve and sinew to explain to Banerjee what can be included in the treaty and what must remain unarticulated.
No agreement—barring an interim agreement signed in 1982—exists between India and the Bangladesh on how much water the Teesta actually has, a vital fact in determining in what proportion the water should be shared between the two countries. As water is a politically sensitive issue in both countries, and successive regimes in Bangladesh have thrived on anti-India rhetoric, politics has come in the way of an agreement.
In March 2010, following a ministerial meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission, a decision was reached to sign an agreement within a year on the Teesta river water sharing. As part of this agreement, joint observation centres had to be set up to ascertain how much water there was in the river at various times during the year.
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The Teesta river barrage at Gozaldoba in India controls the amount of water flow downstream to Bangladesh. To increase the irrigation potential of the northwest region, Bangladesh had constructed the Dalia barrage on the river in Lalmonirhat district to provide irrigation water from the river through a canal network.
In the dry season, the exclusive control of the river water at Gazoldoba renders the Dalia Barrage almost useless for diversion of water, due to low flows. Moreover, sudden release of excessive water through the Gazoldoba Barrage during the rainy season causes floods, bank erosion and damages huge amount of crops downstream. The joint observation centres were to examine the water flow at both Gozaldoba and Dalia points to manage high and low season water flows and minimise economic losses.
Distortions have tended to creep into water flow because of a phenomenon called ‘regeneration’—where the volume of water increases because of spurt in groundwater and aquifers below the river bed. Besides, a certain amount of water had to be kept in the river to support aquatic life—it cannot be drained dry.
For the first, there was no assessment as to the volume but it was thought to be 25 per cent. For the second, West Bengal has been insisting that Bangladesh be asked to assume responsibility for this – that is, the amount of water that the river needs to keep alive be deducted from Bangladesh’s share.
The treaty that was to be signed envisaged 50 per cent share each of the existing water but did not make any express mention of the swell of water as a result of regeneration.
This, ultimately would have yielded the balance of advantage to India. Mamata Banerjee wanted Bengal to get 52 per cent of the water.
Ministers said the fine print of the treaty was explained to Bannerjee, by several government officials, including the National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and Water Resources Secretary D V Singh. All of them reported back to Delhi that Banerjee was on board, until a few days ago.
Because water is a subject that both the Centre and the state have lien on, the centre alone cannot push a treaty through. Bannerjee’s concern is the rise of protest from North Bengal, the region that is fed by the Teesta. Already the Revolutionary Socialist party, a member of the Left Front, has started a campaign about India’s sellout to Bangladesh in sharing of the Teesta waters. The tragedy is that India is unable to use 40 per cent of the water it currently controls.