Teesta management and conservation: fact and fiction

The people of Kurigram, the northernmost district of Bangladesh are now grappling with devastating floods from the Teesta which remained entirely dry during the lean season. Photo collected.

Following the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Delhi, the signing of 10 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), including the renewal of 3 old MoUs, and the publication of a joint statement late last week, the India-based South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), a body of water professionals, published a well meaning report on Delhi's desire to manage and conserve the Teesta in Bangladesh and renew the treaty on the Ganges. Given below is the SANDRP report followed by a brief write-up on our perspective.
India to help Bangladesh conserve TeestaJune 24, 2024 SANDRPThe news this week is that India and Bangladesh have agreed for India to help Bangladesh conserve the Teesta River that flows from India to Bangladesh. We hope this development is taken to its logical conclusion soon in terms of implementation of the project as soon as possible. This has the potential to not only two nations working together on conservation and rejuvenation of the Teesta River, but also possibly other 53 shared rivers. However, it would have been better if the W Bengal government would have been briefed, taken into confidence and involved in the discussions. History tells us that the cooperation efforts do not succeed without the involvement of all the stakeholders.The formation of Joint Technical Committee to initiate discussions for the renewal of the Ganges Water Sharing treaty 1996 that will expire in 2026. One hopes that all these happen with a benevolent disposition from India as this has the potential of creating a much stronger bond between the two countries. A good example is the 1996 Ganga treaty that was also signed with a benevolent disposition. This move can also help strengthen the relations across South Asia as both Nepal and Bhutan are hoping to export hydro-electricity to Bangladesh via India.India to help Bangladesh conserve Teesta river Among the new India-Bangladesh initiatives agreed during Bangladesh PM’s visit to India was an announcement by Modi after the meeting that India will soon send a technical team to Bangladesh for management and conservation of the Teesta river inside Bangladesh. The announcement is significant as it comes amid efforts by China to convince Dhaka to allow it to develop the Teesta basin. Aware of India’s reservations about China’s role, Bangladesh has maintained it will consider “geopolitical issues” before going ahead with the project, which will apparently cost $ 1 billion. “As part of our development cooperation, we will also undertake conservation and management of Teesta River inside Bangladesh with Indian assistance within a mutually agreed timeframe,” said a joint statement. India’s technical team is expected to first examine if there’s any need for a reservoir to be built, something which the Chinese have reportedly suggested. For India, it’s important that Bangladesh remains mindful of Indian security concerns while pursuing economic projects with Beijing.The leaders also welcomed formation of a Joint Technical Committee to initiate discussions for the renewal of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty of 1996. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../art.../111196158.cms (23 June 2024)The Trinamool Congress on Sunday (June 23) protested against the move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to start negotiations with Dhaka for the renewal of the 1996 agreement between India and Bangladesh for the sharing of water of the Ganges. The TMC, which is in power in West Bengal, alleged that the Centre did not consult the state government before going ahead to start the negotiations for the renewal of the agreement between India and Bangladesh. The party is likely to take up the matter in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, arguing that the Centre must consult the state governments before moving ahead and starting negotiations with Dhaka for the renewal of the treaty. https://www.deccanherald.com/.../after-stalling-teesta... (23 June 2024)The Ganges Water Treaty, signed by India and Bangladesh in 1996, is a 30-year treaty due to expire in 2026, and may be renewed by mutual consent. Under the treaty, the upper riparian India and lower riparian Bangladesh agreed to share the water of this transboundary river at Farakka, a dam on Bhagirathi river around 10 kms from Bangladesh border. Several concerns have been raised over the treaty by states like West Bengal and Bihar, who have blamed the Farakka barrage for erosion, siltation, and floods. In February 2022, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had written to PM Modi expressing concern over the continuous erosion along the Ganga in Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia districts. https://www.telegraphindia.com/.../west.../cid/2029092 (30 June 2024).- South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and PeopleOur perspectiveThe move as narrated above remains at the deep fridge stage because constitution of technical committees on the Teesta and the Ganges is a proposition of ignoring even the rather dormant Joint Rivers Commission of the two countries which in the past had meetings, exchanges of notes and opinions for solving problems facing the common rivers which are 54 in number. This also makes no reference to the urgency of sharing of the Teesta on which an agreement was scheduled to have been signed in 2011.Keeping aside the issue Teesta water sharing or the signing of an agreement on the same, the proposed technical committee, the Indian side to be precise, would take on itself the responsibility of determining whether the construction of a reservoir in the Bangladesh part of the Teesta basin is at all necessary. All this on the perceived security threat or the geopolitical aspect of a Chinese proposal to implement a one-billion dollar project to address flood and riverbank erosion in the wet season and lack of water of the Teesta in the dry season, because the river’s entire lean season flow is diverted from the Gazal Doba Barrage in West Bengal, India.At least the dry season woes of the people of Teesta Basin in Bangladesh could have been resolved to some extent simply by agreeing to give them due share of the hilly river which regularly turns violent in the rainy season. Nowhere during the latest talks or in the joint statement has this been specifically mentioned even though both sides know this is the crux of the entire Teesta question.Then again the questions of management and conservation of the Teesta that too only within Bangladesh is against the principles of management of a transboundary river which should cover the water body’s origins in the Himalayas to its outfall in the Bay of Bengal through the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system in Bangladesh. The technical committee that has been proposed to be constituted is being mandated to work only within Bangladesh.One can thus say that its scope is very limited – to remove apprehensions of Chinese involvement in the proposed Teesta Multipurpose Project that’s meant to offset the adverse effects of Bangladesh’s lack of say or control over the year-round flow of the river that is regulated from across the border.Needless to say, the narrow focus of the said technical committee on management and conservation of the Teesta in Bangladesh has little scope to serve any useful purpose of the lower riparian neighbour, Bangladesh, which has overtime lost its say over the share of water of the river. The proposed committee is now to decide whether there is any necessity of intervention in Bangladesh to protect the people of the basin from whimsical control of the river’s flow by the big upper riparian neighbour, India.The experience of the last two decades show Bangladesh can remain pretty sure that no lean season flow of the river will be available regardless of the consequence of this to the environment, ecology, economy, life and livelihoods of the people. Another thing about which there is a clear certainty is that onslaught of the flashy hilly river shall without fail be passed on to the Bangladesh part of the basin whenever there is a natural disaster caused by unusually heavy rainfall or a glacial outburst above Sikkim that hosts the river up in the Himalayas.About the Ganges also, a technical committee is to work on renewal of the 30-year treaty that would end in 2026. The knowledge and understanding of water sharing of trans-boundary rivers over the three decades have undergone significant changes. Both sides now understand well-enough that mere extension of the date of expiry of the treaty would mean little if there is no guarantee of availability of water at the Farakka point for release into Bangladesh for, say infinite future or another 30 years.The Ganges Treaty should for the benefit of the two friendly neighbours dwell extensively on water data and information from the rivers’ origin in the Himalayas to its outfall into the Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh. Dhaka should be able to understand the ups and downs of the river above Farakka not only to get a due share but also to be able to make reliable forecast of flood disasters which at times turn calamitous.The new treaty should be based on the internationally accepted principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) which is sustainable and gives a win-win situation to people of all co-basin countries. Here we definitely welcome benevolence but not at the cost of co-basin and lower riparian rights. It should have the essential term of guarantee of availability of water and provision of arbitration in case of differences of opinion on the treaty that are there in India’s water sharing treaties with both upper riparian Nepal and lower riparian Pakistan over Mohakali and Indus Rivers respectively.