Bangladesh today said it hoped to ink a deal with India on sharing of Teesta river water as top officials from both sides were set to hold talks here soon.
“Preparations are underway for the secretary-level meeting in Dhaka soon,” Bangladeshi Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen said.
The meeting will discuss the draft proposals, submitted by the two countries during the ministerial-level Joint River Commission (JRC) meeting in New Delhi in March, to prepare specific proposals for the water sharing treaty.
Sen said the next JRC meeting, scheduled in Dhaka, was expected to see the signing of the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement.
Sen’s comments came a day after Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told in Thimpu that talks between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the 16th SAARC summit reviewed the progress towards equal sharing of Teesta water.
Moni said the Teesta issue was discussed between the two leaders, while the foreign ministers and officials from both sides briefed them on the progress of the deal, signed during the New Delhi meeting in January. Sen said an agreement on the Teesta water appeared crucial as five districts of north-western Bangladesh would otherwise face catastrophe. “This is a serious issue and the Indian leadership will have to be sympathetic,” Sen added.
However, Bangladeshi media earlier reported that despite the absence of a treaty, India released substantial quantum of water in the past two months, giving relief to farmers in the north-western districts. The last JRC meeting was held in New Delhi after a gap of five years, though its 1972 charter suggests the water resources ministers of both countries should meet twice a year.
Sen and his counterpart, Pawan Kumar Bansal, in their New Delhi meeting signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) to conclude an interim treaty on Teesta water sharing in their next meeting in Dhaka.
Dhaka and New Delhi agreed on water sharing during Hasina’s maiden India visit in January this year, when the Bangladeshi PM and Singh asked the ministers concerned to hold a JRC meeting within three months.
Both countries have directed their respective water resources ministries to reach an interim agreement on the Teesta water sharing.
A technical committee meeting and a secretary level meeting on sharing of Teesta water were held in Dhaka earlier this year, when the two countries exchanged draft proposals of the treaty.
Bangladeshi officials earlier said if a long-term agreement on Teesta was not reached, the two sides might go for an interim agreement. Under a 1983 understanding, Bangladesh is supposed to get 36 per cent share of the flow and India 39 per cent, allowing the rest to be flowed naturally.
Drastic fall in the water flow of Teesta during the lean season, specially in February and March, hampered irrigation in Bangladesh, while JRC sources said the flow on the river weakened significantly in the last 24 years for Gajoldoba barrage and some dams built in the upstream Indian region.
Bangladesh and India inked a landmark treaty on sharing of the Ganges water during Hasina’s previous 1996-2001 tenure, removing a major irk in bilateral ties. Deltaic Bangladesh is crisscrossed by 230 major rivers, 54 of them originating from India.
