Ahead of Sheikh Hasina visit, India and Bangladesh make progress in sharing of river waters

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, August 26

The India-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission, which met here on Thursday after a gap of twelve years, made some progress on water sharing of common rivers and decided to include eight more rivers where India will advance flow information, but an agreement on the Teesta river did not make much progress.

The text of the MoU for interim water sharing of the Kushiyara river was finalised at the 38th minister-level meeting of Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission. The Kushiyara water-sharing agreement is likely to be signed during Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi on September 6 and 7. This will enable Bangladesh to irrigate 5,000 hectares of farmland by using water from Kushiyara.

The two delegations also discussed preparing the drafts of the water-sharing frameworks for the Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar rivers.

The meeting also agreed to widen the area of the ongoing cooperation by including eight more rivers for data exchange. India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which seven rivers have been identified earlier for developing water-sharing agreements. The matter will be further discussed at the JRC Technical-Level Committee, likely to be held this year in Dhaka. India had recently extended the period of flood data sharing beyond 15 October to help Bangladesh address unforeseen flood events.

At the meeting, the Bangladesh delegation also expressed its concern over the delay in signing of the Teesta water-sharing treaty. Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat assured that the issue is under their active consideration, said a MEA press release.

Bangladesh State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque led the 17-member Bangladesh delegation, which also included AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem, a lawmaker, and Kabir Bin Anwar, senior secretary of the ministry, among others.

The Indian delegation was led by Shekhawat, and Pankaj Kumar, Secretary of the Water Resources Ministry, attended the meeting among others.

Both sides agreed to conduct a feasibility study for optimum utilisation of water received by Bangladesh under the provision of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996.

Floods, river bank protection works, common basin management, and the Indian River Interlinking Project were also discussed.

The meeting further finalised the design and location of water intake points on the Feni river to meet the drinking water needs of Tripura’s Sabroom town. India was taking 1.82 cusecs of water from the Feni River under an interim agreement signed in October 2019.

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