Qaisar Mansoor
Teesta Water dispute is a dispute on Teesta river sharing agreement between India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh wanted equitable distribution of Teesta water with India on the lines of Ganga Water Treaty of 1996, but nothing materialised.
Every time, Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India visit each other’s country, the issue of the Teesta treaty surfaces in public discussions – at least in Bangladesh. The same has happened during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ongoing visit to India.
Bangladesh PM Hasina last visited India in 2019. Last month, India and Bangladesh finalized the text of the agreement on interim sharing of the water of the Kushiyara River. India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which seven were identified earlier for developing a framework of water-sharing agreements on priority. One of the long-standing unresolved issues between Bangladesh and India is the Teesta water-sharing agreement.
After the Ganges Treaty in 1996, the issue of distribution of water of the river Teesta became the most important topic of discussion. The issue of Teesta water sharing between Bangladesh and India started at the ministerial level meeting of the two countries in August 1983.
In September 2011, the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka and Teesta water-sharing agreement was to be signed.
According to the agreement, India’s right to 42.5 percent of the Teesta’s water and Bangladesh’s 37.5 percent was to be established. But the deal was not finalized due to opposition from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Later, in 2014, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited India. The visit sparked hopes of the signing of the Teesta Treaty. During the visit, she had a meeting with Ms Banerjee. However even then, she did not agree.
Bangladesh’s foreign minister has now clearly stated that there is no scope for progress on the Teesta treaty during this bilateral summit. There are two reasons why the Teesta water-sharing treaty is now an illusion.
The first concerns the centre-state relationship of West Bengal and Delhi. It is nearly impossible for India’s central government to sign any meaningful treaty over the stiff objections from the state government of West Bengal.
However, the second and more underlying reason is that so much of the Teesta flow is diverted via the Gajoldoba Barrage for irrigation in West Bengal that there is hardly any dry season flow left to be shared with Bangladesh. It’s because of the entrenched interests of the irrigators in West Bengal that the state government cannot agree to a greater share of the Teesta for Bangladesh; this, in turn, prevents India from accommodating Bangladesh’s demands.
During the 38th ministerial level Joint River Commission meeting in New Delhi, Bangladesh and India discussed several issues related to water sharing, however, as usual Teesta and Ganga remained in the cold storage.
The Ganges Water Sharing Agreement will expire in 2026 and Bangladesh is not happy over 25th August meeting as it was an eye wash. India is more interested in protecting its interests rather than addressing Bangladeshi rights.
