With around two months to go before the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty expires, Bangladesh’s Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee has expressed hope that a new treaty with India will be signed before December 12. The renewal of the 30-year India-Bangladesh Ganga Water Sharing Treaty is a critical bilateral and domestic issue in Bangladesh and a diplomatic issue between the two nations.
The Ganga Water Treaty currently allocates water flowing through the river during the dry season. If the water level at Farakka is less than 70,000 cusecs, the two nations share it equally. If the level of water is between 70,000 and 75,000 cusecs, Bangladesh receives 35,000 cusecs and India gets the remaining water. If the water level falls below 50,000 cusecs in a 10-day period, both governments, through the existing bilateral mechanisms, immediately consult with each other to adjust allocations on an emergency basis, according to the treaty.
If an agreement is reached before the treaty expires in December this year, sources have confirmed to NDTV that Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will make it the highlight of his proposed visit to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Rahman will sign the renewed treaty, making it a key moment in the reset of ties between India and Bangladesh. Based on meetings between the two countries, Bangladesh is optimistic that the new treaty will be finalised ahead of the deadline, Anee added. The Ganga Water Sharing Treaty is a 30-year bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh signed on December 12, 1996, by Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and Sheikh Hasina. It governs the sharing of the Ganges River waters at the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal during the lean season from January 1 to May 31 every year.
“Restoring the guarantee clause, as in the 1977 agreement, is one of Bangladesh’s top priorities in the new treaty,” Anee told reporters after a seminar titled “Rethinking the Future of Water: Youth Leadership, Justice and Cooperation,” organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reported. “We must conclude a new Ganges water treaty before December 12,” Anee said, adding that Bangladesh and India are working regularly through the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC), which is the bilateral mechanism for discussing bilateral water cooperation between the two countries.
