India and Bangladesh to hold talks next week

New Delhi, Mar 14 (PTI) Against the backdrop of
differences between India and Bangladesh over calculating
availability of water in Teesta river, Water Resources
Ministers of the two countries will meet here next week under
the aegis of the Joint River Commission.
Indian Water Resources Ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal will
have talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Ramesh Chandra Sen
to discuss the Teesta river water sharing.
Sources in the Water Resources Ministry said while
Bangladesh wants to have water sharing on 50-50 basis
available at Ghazal Doba -- the only release point of Teesta
river water to Bangladesh-- India is yet to take a final call
on the issue as much will depend on West Bengal government.
"Water is a state subject. We want the state government
to decide on the issue first," said an official.
The two sides will also try to thrash out differences on
the system to be adopted to decide on the actual availability
of water in the river.
"There are differences on the modalities to find out the
actual availability on a particular date. We have to have
convergence of views," the officials said.
The last time the Joint River Commission had met was in
2005.
Ahead of the JRC meeting, Water Resources Secretaries are
likely to meet to do the ground work for the ministerial-level
talks.
This will be the first visit to India by the Bangladesh
Water Resources Minister since the Sheikh Hasina government
came to power in January 2009.
During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to
India in January this year, the two countries had agreed on
concluding the Teesta river sharing talks at the earliest.
"Recognising the sufferings of the people of both sides
in the face of scarcity of lean season flows of the Teesta
River, the Prime Ministers expressed that the discussions on
the sharing of the Teesta waters between India and Bangladesh
should be concluded expeditiously.
"The two Prime Ministers directed their respective Water
Resources Ministers to convene the Ministerial-level meeting
of the Joint Rivers Commission in the first quarter of 2010,"
a joint statement issued during the visit had said.
The Joint River Commission was established by India and
Bangladesh in the Indo-Bangladeshi Treaty of Friendship,
Cooperation and Peace signed in 1972.
As per the treaty, the two countries established the
Commission to work for the common interests and sharing of
water resources, irrigation, floods and cyclones control. PTI
NAB
MYR