Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman said on Monday that the country cannot just “sit and wait” for a Teesta river water-sharing agreement with India, describing it as a matter of “life and death” for communities dependent on the river, The Daily Star reported.
Asked whether Bangladesh hoped the long-stalled agreement could be revived after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections, Rahman said it was too early to speculate.
“A government has not yet been formed in West Bengal, and what they think or what they will do is for them to say,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “It is not my job to read their minds.”
Rahman added that he hoped the treaty, on which India and Bangladesh had given an in-principle agreement, could be revisited.
“But we cannot just sit and wait for that,” The Daily Star quoted the Bangladesh minister as saying. “We have our own work to do.”
In 2011, India and Bangladesh had arrived at a consensus on a Teesta water-sharing agreement. However, the deal was stalled due to opposition from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Trinamool Congress chief had argued that such an agreement would deprive northern Bengal of drinking water and that the Teesta river has very little water during winters and summers.
After negotiations with India stalled, Bangladesh in 2016 launched the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project and carried out a feasibility study. In 2020, China offered Bangladesh a loan of $987 million for the project.
On Monday, Rahman had said the Teesta river project would figure in discussions during his three-day visit to China that began on Wednesday, The Hindu reported.
The Bangladesh minister was also asked about reports alleging that India was forcing persons into Bangladesh on claims that they were Bangladeshi citizens. To this, he said that Dhaka would take “whatever measures are necessary on that issue”, the newspaper reported.
He added: “When the Chief Minister of Assam [Himanta Biswa Sarma] said similar things and admitted he had taken certain actions, you saw that we strongly protested.”
Teesta water dispute
India and Bangladesh had arrived at a temporary water-sharing agreement for the Teesta river in 1983.Under the arrangement, Bangladesh was to receive 36% of the river’s dry-season flow, while India would retain 39%.
The temporary deal, however, did not result in a long-lasting agreement.
In the agreement on which India and Bangladesh had arrived at an in-principle consensus in 2011, India was to retain 42.5% of the dry season flow, while Bangladesh would be given 37.5%, according toThe Print.
Banerjee had opposed the agreement, arguing that there was not enough water in the Teesta river for it to be shared with Bangladesh.
Also read:
Why Mamata Banerjee refuses to share Teesta: The river has just 1/16th of water needed
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