Two hydrological surveys of the Teesta river, one by West Bengal’s Irrigation department and the other by a hydrologist appointed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have come up with findings that calls the bluff on her opposition to the water-sharing treaty which India wants to sign with Bangladesh.
The findings of the survey, called the Teesta Cubature Study, comes at a time when Banerjee is at sixes and sevens over New Delhi’s decision to share Teesta waters with Bangladesh. In August 2011, Banerjee refused to be part of the Indian delegation, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to Dhaka when the Teesta River water sharing treaty was to be signed.
After scuttling the deal, Banerjee announced in November 2011 formation of an expert committee headed by hydrologist Dr Kalyan Rudra to assess the proposed sharing of the Teesta waters between India and Bangladesh. Banerjee had argued at that time that the “water problem” was the result of expansion of the Teesta Barrage and operationalisation of four to five thermal plants.
But it is reliably learnt that though Rudra’s survey shows a reduced water flow in the Teesta, he has apparently argued that it is important to maintain the ‘normal flow’ of the river to save it. Which means the Teesta should be allowed to flow normally into Bangladesh without any major diversion upstream.
Rudra was not willing to comment on his report, which is believed to be with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. But top sources in Bengal administration say that Rudra’s recommendation has stumped Banerjee because though he talks of a reduced water volume in the Teesta (as opposed to the Irrigation Departmnent findings), he has asked for maintaining of ‘normal flow’ of the river.
According to the results of the Irrigation and Waterways department’s survey, done in 2011-12 , due to high levels of erosion, there has been more than 20 percent increase in the capacity of the barrage at Gajoldoba in Udalbari in the Dooars. Senior West Bengal government officials told bdnews24.com that “if there is good spell of rains, there could be an overflow and as per the barrage’s design, there will be a discharge 700,000 cu secs of water”.
The sources said that barring three months during the winter season, the volume of water in the reservoir “remains high.”
Since Rudra did not have much resources or time at his disposal and is believed to have failed to lay his hands on the central hydrological data on Teesta, experts feel the Irrigation department survey is more credible.
Even during the 1996 Ganges water sharing treaty with Bangladesh, the West Bengal Irrigation department data on water volume in the river was given much importance by both Delhi and Dhaka.
The fiasco in September 2011, when Banerjee refused to be part of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led delegation to Dhaka, scuttled the accord as the West Bengal Chief Minister did not agree with the quantum of water that India could share with Bangladesh. Needless to say, this had caused a huge embarrassment to India, especially because expectations that the treaty would be signed between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Manmohan Singh were high.
Singh now wants to sign the treaty this year as both India and Bangladesh head into national parliament elections in early 2014. Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid and President Pranab Mukherjee have both reportedly assured Sheikh Hasina that the treaty will be signed this year.
But though Mamata Banerjee gave some indication of a softened stand on Teesta by allowing her close lieutenant and MP Mukul Roy to be part of President Mukherjee’s team to Dhaka last month, she has pulled up Mukherjee for committing ‘many things’ to Bangladesh without consulting her.
Analysts however say it is not so much her fears of loosing out on the Teesta waters as her desperation to secure special funds from Delhi to tide over the state’s financial crisis that is prompting Mamata Banerjee to drive a hard bargain with the Central government on the Teesta issue.
It’s both shocking and outwitting that Ms. Banerjee could not be softened even though our PM congratulated her on Ms. Banerjee’s victory going beyond official protocol, as many diplomats said, and also sending truckloads of hilsha fishes and zamdani sharees. Such is the true color of Indian leaders, at least most of them, the core principle of which is ‘take as much as possible by giving as little as possible’. But we cannot blame them since it’s their praiseworthy patriotism that they place their national interest above all else – the aspect which is almost absent in our leaders. Now after the latest findings on Teesta water what the Mamata govt does is yet to see. Let’s hope for the better.