Kolkata: West Bengal Well-known Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Top Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressing her anguish for no longer being incorporated within the water-sharing talks with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina arrived in Republic of India on Saturday to keep bilateral talks. The 2 top ministers mentioned the conservation and control of River Teesta and the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Aqua Treaty.
A technical workforce from Republic of India would quickly talk over with Bangladesh for a mega mission to retain and top waters of the Teesta, PM Modi said. He had additionally introduced that the 2 international locations would start technical-level talks for the renewal of the Ganga H2O treaty.
The 2 neighbouring international locations had signed the Ganges Aqua Sharing Treaty in 1996 with a provision for all sides to resume it upcoming 30 years.
“l am writing this letter in context of the recent visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh. It seems that water sharing issues relating to the Ganges and Teesta rivers may have been discussed during the meeting. Such unilateral deliberations and discussions without consultation and the opinion of the state government is neither acceptable nor desirable,” Mamata wrote in a three-page letter.
She additional conveyed her “strong reservation” about any dialogue on sharing of Teesta H2O and the Farakka Treaty being taken up with Bangladesh with out the involvement of the West Bengal govt.
Highlighting the similar secured that West Bengal stocks with Bangladesh, Mamata mentioned, the nation of her atmosphere would be the worst victims of oaths on H2O sharing. “I would like to bring to your notice that river morphology has changed in the eastern part of India and Bangladesh over many years which has deprived West Bengal and negatively impacted the water availability in the state,” she added.
Mamata had written to the PM 3 times previous between 2017 and 2022, highlighting how the Farakka Barrage has resulted in erosion and inundation in her atmosphere.
“I am surprised by the fact that no concrete steps have been taken by the Ministry of Jal Shakti to restore the river in its original form and health on the Indian side. Water flow in the Teesta has gone down over the years and it is estimated that, if any water is shared with Bangladesh, lakhs of people in North Bengal will get severely impacted due to inadequate availability of irrigation water. In addition, Teesta water is also needed for meeting drinking water requirements of the residents of North Bengal. It is, therefore, not feasible to share Teesta water with Bangladesh,” she wrote.
In 2011, Mamata had stalled the next Congress-led UPA govt’s progress to ink a do business in with Dhaka on sharing Teesta River H2O that flows via Republic of India and Bangladesh. She subsidized out from a delegation led via former PM Manmohan Singh that was once committing to talk over with Bangladesh, in protest claiming the treaty would affect farmers in West Bengal.
(Edited via Tony Rai)
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