THE government should take the Teesta Water Sharing issue at the UN to find an amicable solution to the dispute since there has been no progress in signing the deal bilaterally, news reports said quoting water and environmental experts as suggesting at a seminar held at Jatiya Press Club on Saturday. They mulled the option in absence of a solution; which is turning the northwest part of Bangladesh into desert destroying agriculture and the ecosystem. The Teesta agreement was scheduled to be signed during the visit of the then Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh to Dhaka in 2011. But it could not be signed because of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s opposition to the deal. Despite her assurance that the deal will be signed soon during her visit to Dhaka early this year, there is still no progress in sight, Indian PM Narendra Modi had also assured Bangladesh Prime Minister in November last year in the sideline of the SAARC summit in Kathmandu that the problem would be resolved soon, but the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka said last week that Dhaka has to wait.
Teesta is the most important river for Bangladesh starting in the Sikkim Valley of the Himalayan Range in India. Sikkim reportedly has built five dams and is building 31 more on the upper region of the Teesta River. West Bengal has also built a barrage at Gazaldoba and reportedly diverting 85 percent of water from the Teesta through a link-canal to upper Mahananda River. This water is transferred to Meichi River in Bihar and then to Fulhar River to join the Ganges at upstream of Farakka Barrage. India has plans to irrigate an area of 9.22 lakhs hectares of land in West Bengal and around, in addition to over 1 lakh hectares under existing irrigation projects.
There is a common perception that India wants to take way as much water from the Teesta without resolving the problem. Moreover there is a shortage of political goodwill to find a solution. This uncertainty is adversely affecting about 21 million Bangladeshi people who live in the Teesta basin while only 8 million people in West Bengal and half a million in Sikkim state live in the Teesta basin. The population ratio is 70 for Bangladesh and 30 for India. Now when Bangladesh needs water in the dry season, it does not get it, but when it does not need water during the monsoon it gets enough for flooding to destroy houses, roads, river banks and embankments.
Thus sharing of this common river water is absolutely necessary for Bangladesh. For a real solution to the problem and for that to occur the political will must come from the Indian side. Bangladesh has been waiting for ages in the hope that our friendly relationship with India will be helpful for resolving the dispute over Teesta Water Sharing fairly and justly. But it has been proved that we are wrong. India has also its difficulties. So both sides should agree to settle the matter through the United Nations.
