The Indian government rejected the proposal of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee that Bangladesh should look for alternative sources of water other than the Teesta.
On Saturday, Banerjee said in New Delhi that the Teesta did not have enough water to meet the needs of Bangladesh and, hence, it should seek water from other rivers like the Torsa and the Jaldhaka in the northern part of West Bengal.
Bangladesh’s experts have described Banerjee’s proposal as totally baseless, ill-motivated and unacceptable. The experts have estimated losses of Tk. 13,500 crore annually as a result of withdrawal of water by India, arguing that Bangladesh should claim the money from India as compensation for destroying the environment. Historically, there was water in the Teesta and there is still water and the water will flow in future as well, the experts observed.
They also urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to hold a grand rally of 30 lakh people to raise Bangladesh’s voice before the international community for the waters of the Teesta. Bangladesh’s experts and officials have also said the rivers have already dried up and some are just a trickle because of withdrawal of water in the upstream. Besides, some Tk. 200 crore would be required for dredging annually to ensure the flow of the rivers like Dudhkumar and Dharla, which flow down the Himalayas and join the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.
The Dudhkumar is known as the Torsa and the Dharla is known as the Jaldhaka in India. Even though the Indian government is very keen to sign the Teesta agreement, its efforts fell through following the West Bengal chief minister’s stubborn resistance to the deal.
According to experts, the proposal given by the West Bengal chief minister appears to be ridiculous. “When we need the Teesta’s waters, she suggested to us to draw water from faraway rivers like the Torsa and the Jaldhaka. A vast area around the Teesta has already turned into
a sandbar,” an official of the Bangladesh Water Develop-ment Board (BWDB) said.
How long would it take for New Delhi to sign the Teesta agreement, water experts have asked. They added that the Indian government has kept on saying that it would be done soon. According to the experts, Bangladeshis had expected that this time the ice would have melted in New Delhi and the Teesta agreement would have been signed, but in vain. “We have only got assurances in 2011 and in 2015 by the former and incumbent Indian prime ministers during their visits to Dhaka,” they said.
“Why is there no water in the Teesta? This is because India is diverting water upstream to meet its own purposes, depriving a lower riparian country like Bangladesh in violation of the United Nations convention,” former UN water expert Dr SI Khan said.
India plans to implement its inter-linking project by digging 30 canals, he said, adding that the Indian government has diverted waters from the Teesta basin to the Ganga.
“It is unacceptable and illegal to divert the water, depriving Bangladesh. Our Prime Minister has tried her best to make her Indian counterpart understand the need for the sharing the Teesta’s waters. We’ll request our Prime Minister to hold a grand rally in Dhaka to raise our voice before the international community,” said SI Khan, who is also the senior vice-president of the International Farakka Committee. Bangladesh should take initiatives to convince the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank not to finance Indian projects that hamper Bangladesh’s environment, he said.
India is deliberately destroying Bangladesh’s environment by withdrawing water unilaterally in the upstream despite assurances from the Indian premier that his country would not undertake any project that harms Bangladesh, the water expert said. “Bangladesh should claim Tk. 13,500 crore as compensation from India annually for destroying the environment in the Teesta areas,” he said.
Describing Mamata Banerjee’s proposal as unrealistic, water and river expert Engineer M Enamul Huq, too, said, “There is enough water in the Teesta. She is just sending a wrong message to the people.”
Meanwhile, BJP, Congress and Left politicians have attacked Mamata for opposing the Teesta deal and suggesting instead sharing four smaller rivers.
The Indian media has also attacked the West Bengal chief minister for ‘springing a surprise’ with the proposal to share smaller rivers.
BJP State Minister for Heavy Industries Babul Supriyo criticised Mamata for raising ‘a totally new proposal’ when the prime minister had made a formal commitment to a close ally like Bangladesh.
“This is not only unprecedented but very unfortunate,” said singer-politician Supriyo, an MP from West Bengal who served as the ‘minister-in-waiting’ to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her India visit this time.
Congress MP and former central minister from Bengal Adhir Chowdhury attacked Mamata for ‘suddenly bringing the smaller rivers into the equation.’
“What is she trying to do? Why did she not raise this issue all these years? The Congress government negotiated Teesta deal with Bangladesh, now Modi is trying to implement it, so why create confusion? ” said Chowdhury.
He and Left politicians, like MP Mohammed Salim and CPI (M) leader in Bengal Assembly Sujan Chakrabarty also alleged that “Mamata was perhaps looking for a secret bargain somewhere.”
“If Mamata insists that Centre should take her into confidence on Teesta, how can she make a proposal on smaller rivers without consulting the Opposition in Bengal?” asked Chakrabarty.
“She is neck deep in corruption cases like Saradha and Narada. She wants a deal with Modi, so she raised the smaller rivers,” added the CPI (M) leader.
MP Salim said that he believed Mamata has other considerations for driving a bargain on Teesta.
“Her opposition is tailored to extract a hard bargain with Modi.”
BJP leaders like Kailash Vijayvargia , who is party’s Bengal in-charge, said Modi has consulted her and given her due importance during the Hasina visit in keeping with the spirit of ‘ cooperative federalism.’
“But she cannot hold India hostage to her whims and calculations. She should not tax Modi’s patience.”
The top Bengali daily ‘Ananda Bazar Patrika’ ridiculed Mamata’s proposals in a detailed analysis.
“The smaller rivers have a limited basin and waters from them cannot substitute the volume that Teesta can offer, so Mamata’s proposal is not being considered by Delhi even for exploration,” it says.
Commenting on Hasina’s visit, most of the Indian newspapers have described the Bangladesh prime minister as a ‘very trusted ally’ and someone ‘who has done much for India’, suggesting it was payback time.
India Today TV ran a full 30-minute programme on Hasina, in which former foreign secretary Krishnan Srinivasan made it clear that India “cannot just let her down.”
“If we don’t seal these water deals fast, she will come under huge fire and that does not work to our advantage at all,” he said.
Source: The Daily Ittefaq
