Kolkata, March 3: An 11-member Bangladeshi delegation, which is part of the Indo-Bangladesh Joint River Commission, arrived in Kolkata on Monday to discuss the Ganga-Padam water pact.
The team is heading for a review of the Farakka Barrage in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal and reviewing the flow of water from Ganga on the Indian side and Parma on the Bangladesh side, since Farakka Barrage plays the most crucial role as regards water sharing between the two countries.
The Bangladesh team is also accompanied by senior officials from the Union Jal Shakti Ministry during the inspection. On March 7, a meeting on this count between the representatives of the two neighbouring countries will take place at a hotel in Kolkata.
Sources said that besides the renewal of the Farakka Water Treaty, the critical issues of the Teesta Water Accord might also come up for discussion at the meeting on March 7. The Farakka Water Treaty is due for renewal in 2026. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already expressed her reservations about the Farakka Water Treaty and Teesta Water Accord.
In June last year, she even wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the latter not to make important bilateral decisions on these two issues without discussing and involving the state government.
In the letter, she claimed that the Farakka Water Treaty delineates the principles of sharing water between Bangladesh and India and has huge implications for the people of West Bengal for maintaining their livelihood. She also claimed that the water, which is diverted at the Farakka Barrage, helps in maintaining the navigability of Kolkata Port.
On the issue of the proposed Teesta Water Sharing accord, the Chief Minister claimed that any bilateral cooperation between India and Bangladesh would largely impact the livelihood of the people in North Bengal, considering that the health of the river has already suffered from the construction of hydroelectric projects in Sikkim.
IANS