Two Indian Prime Ministers visited Bangladesh in the recent past and withheld signing of the Water Sharing Agreement citing last minute hitch with West Bengal state government on the issue. But our point is that Indian domestic issues can’t keep Bangladesh deprived of its legitimate water over the decades when India is taking all sensitive concessions from Bangladesh like land connectivity and setting up the giant Rampal Power Plant ignoring public protest.
We fear given the drastic fall in the Teesta water this year, a bilateral treaty will be meaningless when the riverbed will totally dry up. The desertification in the region is heading towards that ominous direction. The Teesta’s flow has dangerously fell at Nilphamari’s Dalia point to 2,768 cusecs on an average in the first 10 days of January against the historical average flow of 7,010 cusecs during the period from 1973 to 1985. It will be even worse in February. For the past two years the decreased flow – recorded in every February – has been seriously impacting farming and people’s livelihood.
We must say the Indian central government and the Chief Minister of West Bengal must immediately acknowledge the big ecological disaster Bangladesh is facing for the past few years in absence of enough water in the riverbeds and its tributaries. Why India is not paying heed to our immense suffering is the big question.
That said, fair share of Teesta water is Bangladesh’s lawful geographic right. We are not demanding a favour. Indian water authorities have been withdrawing water at various points from this cross-border river, particularly in the lean seasons. They are taking advantage in absence of an agreement by installing irrigation dams and power projects diverting the flow and deprecating the lower riparian Bangladesh.
We say, our government must realize if the predicament cannot be resolved through bilateral or diplomatic means, it needs to resort to other solutions like taking the issue to international forums to find out a solution. It can’t be expected from a friend that they will use Teesta water unilaterally acting deliberately to punish Bangladesh. Given India’s geographical advantage to control river at the upstream, the ball is now in Indian court and we hope it will fairly play it taking Bangladesh’s legitimate concern into consideration.
