Staff Reporter :Visiting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said Bangladesh need not worry over the Teesta water sharing deal and added that the issue will be resolved soon.”Keep your faith on me. Don’t be worried over the issue. It will be solved soon,” the Trinamool Congress chief said while addressing a function ‘Boithaki Bangla’ held at a Hotel Sonargaon in the city on Friday afternoon. Mamata was exchanging views with the cultural personalities of Bangladesh and the West Bengal at the function.”The much-talked-about Teesta water sharing issue would be resolved. I shall talk to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over the issue on Saturday,” she said. She added you (litterateurs and cultural personalities) have many questions about Teesta.”We both have some problems about the issue relating to Teesta. Don’t get worried. You can rely on that the problem will be resolved,” Mamata said. She said as she could not visit Bangladesh in 2011 some misunderstandings had been developed over signing of the Teesta water sharing agreement with Bangladesh.”But now there is no problem. And all the misunderstanding will be ended. Your hospitality can’t be forgotten,” she said.”No one can sever our bond of relationship deeply rooted in the flow of rivers of the Padma, the Meghna and the Jamuna,” she said.Agency reports add: Regarding land boundary dispute, Mamata said this problem has already been solved as the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) would be made effective after its approval in the Indian parliament soon.The West Bengal Chief Minister said the West Bengal and Bangladesh have to expand their relations in more areas, especially in the sports and cultural arena for the welfare of the people, particularly those are Bengali-speaking.In this connection, she stressed enhancing cultural exchange programme, holding joint film festival and cultural function in two countries for increasing people-to-people contact among the Bengali-speaking people.Responding to a query, she said there is no bar to telecasting Bangladeshi TV channels in West Bengal. It is totally a business matter; she said, adding that some Bangladeshi TV stations have been airing their programmes in West Bengal.”I welcome you to Paschimbanga with your TV channels as West Bengal is open to all … you the cultural personalities can visit our state with your programmes,” she said.About holding joint film festival in both the countries, she proposed constituting a six-member committee headed by eminent cultural personality and Minister for Cultural Affairs Asaduzzaman Noor to regularly organize the festival in both the countries and facilitate exchange of visit of cultural groups. In the function, she announced to donate 500 books to Bangladesh.In her initial remarks, Mamata also said political and geographical barriers can’t sever relations between Bangladesh and West Bengal as they have strong cultural and historical ties that are deeply rooted due to love and affection for each other and self-respect over the decades.Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran moderated the inaugural session and later Mamata Banerjee moderated the interaction session.The whole sessions were very lively and entertaining as many renowned singers and poets both from Paschimbanga and Bangladesh took part in live performances at the request of the Chief Minister.Mamata Banerjee recited a self-composed poem named “Mati” (Soil), while Asaduzzaman Noor, Bangladesh’s Cultural Affairs Minister, recited from “Nurul Diner Sara Jibon” and Bangladesh singers Runa Laila, Sabina Yasmin, Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya, Sadi Mohammad, and Fakir Alamgir, along with Indian singers, including Nachiketa, and the chief minister sang the national anthems of Bangladesh and India in chorus.
