Bangladesh, India to talk on sharing Teesta waters
Bangladesh and India would hold four-day talks in New Delhi next month to finalise recommendations to strike an interim deal on sharing of the Teesta river waters.
By PTI |
DHAKA: Bangladesh and India would hold four-day talks in New Delhi next month to finalise recommendations to strike an interim deal on sharing of the Teesta river waters.
The Joint Committee of Experts (JCE) of Bangladesh and India would meet in the Indian capital from August seven to settle different unresolved water issues, especially to make recommendations for an interim deal on the Teesta as the Indian authorities already confirmed the schedule for the talks, water resources ministry official said.
Sharing of the water of the common Teesta river was expected to be the most crucial agenda in the talks which would also discuss water sharing issues in seven other major trans-boundary rivers along with along with several other routine issues including construction of protection embankments, he said.
This would be the first meeting of the JCE in the past three years while the joint committee headed by water resources secretaries of the two countries last met in Dhaka in September 2004 though it is supposed to take place every six months alternately in the two capitals.
According to reports, Dhaka proposed an equal share of 80 per cent of the Teesta waters, preserving the rest 20 per cent as natural flow of the river while New Delhi insisted on sharing the waters at a ratio of 39 per cent and 36 per cent for India and Bangladesh respectively. Bangladesh is criss-crossed by 230 major rivers mostly originating from India while water sharing in common rivers remained to be an outstanding issue of the two neighbours.
The Joint Committee of Experts (JCE) of Bangladesh and India would meet in the Indian capital from August seven to settle different unresolved water issues, especially to make recommendations for an interim deal on the Teesta as the Indian authorities already confirmed the schedule for the talks, water resources ministry official said.
Sharing of the water of the common Teesta river was expected to be the most crucial agenda in the talks which would also discuss water sharing issues in seven other major trans-boundary rivers along with along with several other routine issues including construction of protection embankments, he said.
This would be the first meeting of the JCE in the past three years while the joint committee headed by water resources secretaries of the two countries last met in Dhaka in September 2004 though it is supposed to take place every six months alternately in the two capitals.
According to reports, Dhaka proposed an equal share of 80 per cent of the Teesta waters, preserving the rest 20 per cent as natural flow of the river while New Delhi insisted on sharing the waters at a ratio of 39 per cent and 36 per cent for India and Bangladesh respectively. Bangladesh is criss-crossed by 230 major rivers mostly originating from India while water sharing in common rivers remained to be an outstanding issue of the two neighbours.
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