Teesta river water sharing high on agenda at September 6 India-Bangladesh bilateral meeting

NEW DELHI: Teesta river water sharing and its joint management are likely to be the highlights of the upcoming bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, slated for September 6, even as the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal and Centre are yet to untangle their differences over the issue internally.
Realising that the Teesta water sharing treaty is caught in a political bind, the Bangladesh government has decided to keep it on the talking table, however, moving over to work on a larger scheme of joint water sharing and water management mechanism with New Delhi.
Given that the two neighbours share 54 rivers in the region, Dhaka and New Delhi are working on an agreement on other big rivers like Muhuri (flows out of Tripura) and Feni (in Tripura)-Kushiyara (Bangladesh), besides a renewal of the Ganga Water Treaty, signed in 1996, slated for 2026.
As a prelude to the Modi-Hasina meeting next month, the Joint River Commission (JRC) started deliberations here on Tuesday, meeting for the first time since 2010. The secretary-level meeting of the JRC will be followed up by ministerial-level talks on Thursday.
According to sources in Dhaka, Bangladesh will raise the long awaited Teesta issue at the JRC meeting, apart from finalising a framework agreement for six common rivers -- Monu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar -- besides issues relating to the renewal of the Ganges water-sharing treaty.
At the meeting, the two sides are expected to finalise a joint study on utilisation of the Ganga waters and an agreement on the withdrawal of water from Kushiyara river, according to sources in Dhaka. They added that a MoU on sharing of data on the flow of water in the rivers flowing in India's Northeast region would also be finalised at the meeting.
With the possibility of a water treaty being finalised during the tenures of PM Modi and Hasina governments, both are looking forward to information sharing regarding common water resources, data sharing on floods and jointly managing water-related natural disasters like cyclones common to the region. The recent floods in Assam and its contiguous area in Bangladesh, Sylhet, last June and July having caused similar sufferings for people on both the sides of the border are being referred to in the context.
Bangladesh foreign ministry sources told TOI in Dhaka last month that the country is keen to continue the engagement with India on the river water-sharing issue that is beneficial for both the sides and even the Teesta issue can move forward if the talks continue.