Livelihoods, ecology affected as Teesta flow drastically falls in lean season
Bangladesh needs immediate settlement of Teesta water sharing with India as the flow in the trans-boundary river drastically falls in the lean season adversely affecting livelihoods and ecology in the northern districts, according to water resources minister Anisul Islam Mahmud.
He said that the signing of the Teesta deal, which was dropped at the last minute during the then Indian prime minister’s visit to Dhaka in September 2011 due to objection from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was still very crucial for Bangladesh, a lower riparian country.
‘Definitely, the Teesta water sharing issue is our priority…Teesta water is very important for ecology and livelihoods in Bangladesh,’ Anisul told New Age on Monday as his attention was drawn to a recent Indian media report projecting the long-standing Teesta water sharing as no more a ‘pressing issue’ for Bangladesh.
Quoting a top Bangladeshi official, India’s state-owned news agency Press Trust of India released the report New Delhi which was carried by Indian Express and India Today in their online version on August 29.
‘Once a very emotive issue in Bangladesh, the non-signing of Teesta river water sharing agreement with India appears to be no more “immediately harmful” that needs to resolved tomorrow,’ the report quoted the ‘Bangladeshi official’ to have said.
‘Teesta in a sense is like a mosquito bite, you feel that a mosquito is there, but it cannot take away too much of your blood… In Bangladesh, the cultivation season has changed. Teesta (deal) was designed to provide supplementary irrigation,’ the official was quoted to have told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
The water resources minister, however, said that he was unaware of such an India media report.
Mamata Banerjee while visiting Dhaka in February 2015 said that Bangladesh needed not be worried over the Teesta, assuring that the problem would be resolved soon.
The Teesta agreement was set to be signed during former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh’s Dhaka visit in September 2011 but it was postponed as Mamata opposed the deal and did not come to Dhaka with Manmohan.
India is withdrawing water from the trans-boundary river various points, particularly in the lean season, February-March, allowing little amount to flow into Bangladesh, according to officials.
The Teesta water available at Dalia point in Nilphamari was recorded at 318 cusecs on February 17, 2015, the lowest so far in the recent years against a historical average of 5,986 cusecs, recorded in the last 10 days of January from 1973 to 1985, said a senior official at the Joint Rivers Commission in Dhaka.
Bangladesh has long been pushing for the signing of the Teesta water sharing deal so that its rightful share of water is guaranteed.
India and Bangladesh earlier exchanged drafts of the interim agreement on the principles of water-sharing of the river Teesta, which enters Bangladesh through Nilphamari border and flows down Rangpur.
Over seven lakh hectares of cultivable land in the country’s north depends on the Teesta water for irrigation during lean season.
Although the two neighbours share 54 trans-boundary rivers, the countries have an agreement only on Ganges water sharing.
Source: New Age
