An equitable share of Teesta River waters and the construction of the Ganges barrage, two most-discussed topics in the year 2019, have remained far from being resolved. Despite attempts taken by the government several times, India has assured Dhaka only in words that the agreements pertaining to these two topics would be signed soon.

According to sources, the activities of the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) have virtually stopped due to India’s go-slow policy. Though Bangladesh has already completed all necessary work to exchange data on six common rivers—the Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla, and Dudhkumar—and technical committee reports on the Ganges Barrage, the Indian authorities are yet to respond positively, they say.

The sources also say that the Teesta deal has become uncertain due to the reluctance on the Indian side. The JRC’s ministerial-level meeting has not been held in the last 10 years. However, Bangladesh has agreed to give 1.8 cusec water per second to India from the Feni River. This has irked many Bangladeshis who believe that any such deal should be put on hold unless India signs the treaty regarding the sharing of Teesta waters.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited India twice on October 3 and November 22 last year, but the Indian government has failed to convince the government of West Bengal, one of the Indian states, to sign the Teesta deal. The Teesta river water-sharing deal was postponed just hours before it was to be signed during former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in September 2011 due to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s persistent opposition.

Since then, India maintains that it will ink the deal once it gets approval from the state government. Though the decades-old land boundary and maritime issues have been resolved, the topic of an equitable share of the Teesta river waters has remained unresolved.

Over 100 agreements have been signed with India in the last 10 years, 68 of which were concluded in the last three years alone. “We are yet to get approval from Indian authorities to dig the Rahimpur canal in Sylhet. We had a meeting on December 19 to exchange data on six common rivers to prepare a framework. But the meeting was postponed,” JRC member KM Anwar Hossain said yesterday.

He also said the last ministerial-level JRC meeting was held in 2010. “We have already finalised our technical committee report on the construction of the Ganges barrage. We are now waiting to discuss this issue with the Indian authorities,” he added.