Keep calm and have faith: Mamata on her maiden trip to Bangla

Dhaka: Visiting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday assured that Bangladesh need not worry over the Teesta water sharing deal and added that the issue will be resolved soon.

“Keep your faith on me. Don’t be worried over the issue. It will be solved soon,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said while addressing a function ‘Boithaki Bangla’ held at a hotel in Dhaka.

She also assured that the land boundary agreement (LBA) will be made effective after its approval in the parliament of India. “It will be a milestone for people of both the countries when the Land Boundary Agreement will be made effective,” she added.

This is her first visit to Bangladesh since taking office in 2011. She made headlines on September 7 that year by opting out at the last minute of the delegation led by the then UPA government Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Dhaka because of her opposition to the water-sharing deal. As a result, the Teesta agreement could not be signed.

The Teesta River, which has its origin in Sikkim, flows through the northern part of West Bengal in India before entering Bangladesh and joining the Brahmaputra River.

“Certainly, the Teesta water-sharing issue will come up for discussion,” said a diplomatic source in Dhaka, adding, “West Bengal is looking to build positive relations with a friendly neighbour Bangladesh.”

Two issues, finding an acceptable formula to share the Teesta waters and the ratification of a Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) have cast a shadow over bilateral ties between Bangladesh and India, although relations have been on the upswing since 2009 when Awami League assumed power.

Ahead of her arrival, Mamata Banerjee has expressed hope to reporters in Kolkata that her visit to Bangladesh would further strengthen ties between Bangladesh and her state and promote business between the two sides.

Mamata, invited by Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on the occasion of “Bhasa Divas” on February 21, pitched for stronger trade and cultural linkages between Bangladesh and West Bengal.

“I will carry to Bangladesh the message of enhanced trade links and other exchanges between West Bengal and Bangladesh,” she told reporters.

 

Teesta water flow falling rapidly

The flow of Teesta waters at the point where the river enters Bangladesh from India has been receding fast since last November.

Thus, the country is getting hardly 10 percent of the average water flow that Bangladesh used to receive from 1973 to 1985, according to monitoring by experts at Dalia point in Lalmonirhat district.

The drastic fall in the Teesta waters has threatened farming, especially Boro rice cultivation, on vast tracts of land under the command area of the Teesta barrage this season.

Farmers in the region fear they will incur losses as they have to use diesel pumps for cultivation or even lose crops in some cases.

Sources in the water resources ministry said Bangladesh received 5,986 cusecs of water through the Teesta in the first 10 days of February from 1973-85.

A meagre 450 cusecs water was available in Teesta at Dalia in the first 10 days of February this year.

The sources said the country received 5,149 cusecs of water in the second 10 days of February from 1973-85. The availability of water during the same period this year is only 350 cusecs as recorded on Tuesday.

Officials of the joint rivers commission said the average flow of waters during the 1973-85 period, before the construction of Gazaldoba Barrage by India, was calculated for comparison.

Bangladesh raised the issue after exchange of five letters and several meetings. The water flow is rapidly falling although India has assured Bangladesh of looking into the matter.

Water resources minister Anisul Islam Mahmud on the water flow in Teesta is falling rapidly, leaving hazardous effects on farming and socio economic conditions and environment of the people dependent on the river waters.