Teesta deal may not be inked this time
Says water resources minister
Staff Reporter
Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud yesterday said the much needed Teesta water deal may not be inked during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas upcoming India visit. Maybe, not this time, but the Indian prime minister is very sincere about inking the deal. But it could not be signed due to the internal problems of the country, the minister said responding to a query whether the deal would be signed during Hasinas upcoming India visit. He said the deal would be inked after the internal problems are resolved.
The minister was speaking after a roundtable discussion held marking World Water Day tomorrow as the chief guest held at daily Bhorer Kagoj office in the capital yesterday.
Mahmud also said Dhaka and Delhi are currently in discussions over the Ganga barrage Bangladesh wants to put in Rajbari districts Pangsha.
He explained that due to poor maintenance and deposit of silt, the rivers are unable to store water. The programme was jointly organised by Bhorer Kagoj, End Water Poverty, Fresh Water Action Network, South Asia Bangladesh, NGO Forum for Public Health and Water Supply and Sanitation Collaboration Council.
Indian media reported on Monday that India and Bangladesh might go for a draft document or paper on sharing water from river Teesta during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas visit next month.
The Indian newspaper said that the negotiations between the two countries on sharing its waters have remained inconclusive, the Economic Times reported.
Officials concerned in India hinted that a formal agreement may not be ready during Sheikh Hasinas April 7-10 visit, but a draft paper could be agreed upon when she meets her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on April 8. This could lead to a formal agreement at a later stage, ahead of general elections in Bangladesh in January 2019.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas upcoming India visit has come under the spotlight with rising expectations that there will be forward movement on the pending Teesta water-sharing issue.
Fuelling hopes of a final agreement is the BJPs landslide win in Uttar Pradesh, a verdict seen buttressing any bold move Modi may contemplate vis--vis Indias neighbours, said The Economic Times. Identifying the support of the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal as the key to the implementation of any water-sharing deal on river Teesta, which flows through the state, The Economic Times said that there are indications that Banerjee might be invited to meet Hasina in New Delhi along with the chief ministers of four other states that border Bangladesh.
