Teesta water sharing remains elusive

Jehangir Hussain

Jehangir Hussain

Sharing the waters of the Teesta river, which originates in the Himalayas and flows through Sikkim and West Bengal to merge with the Brahmaputra which is called  Jamuna in Bangladesh, is perhaps the most contentious issue between two friendly neighbours, India and Bangladesh, commented prestigious Indian daily, The Hindu.

The just concluded visit to India by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina produced no results either as expected.

The river covers nearly the entire floodplains of Sikkim, drains 2,800 sq km of Bangladesh, governing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

For West Bengal also the Teesta is important.

Bangladesh has sought an equitable distribution of Teesta waters from India, but to no avail.

The failure to sign a Teesta sharing agreement has a fallout on Bangladesh politics.

The Teesta waters sharing agreement has been on the negotiating table since 1954.

From 1983, when a half-hearted deal in 1983, which proposed nearly equal aportionment of water , the two countries hit a snag.

The agreement could not be signed.

Talks continued during the BNP rule with little headway.

The negotiations resumed after  Awami League returned to power in 2008 and the former Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka in 2011.

Officials were directed to conclude an ‘interim agreements’ on a ‘fair and equitable basis,’as  the joint statement marking conclusion of Manmohan Signgh’s visit .

In 2015, India prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka generated greater optimism, ‘deliberations were under way involving all the stakeholders’  to conclude the agreement as soon as possible, as both the countries were gearing up for another general election.

The Teesta, however, remains where it was, due to what India states, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee’s objection.

According to the estimates of Strategic Foresight Group, a Mumbai-based think-tank the Teesta River has a mean annual flow of approximately 60 billion cubic metre (BCM).

A significant amount of this water flows during the wet season, between June and September. The importance of the flow and the seasonal variation of this river is felt during the lean season, from October to April/May, when the average flow is about 500 million cubic metre (MCM) per month.

The Teesta causes floods during monsoons and droughts during the dry periods.

Teesta water shortage in Bangladesh during the dry months affects the country’s agriculture, fishing and ecology and the lives and livelihood of millions of people.

In monsoon much of north-western Bangladesh is flooded causing staggering losses.

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