India to sign deal with Bangladesh on sharing waters

By- Correspondent | Date- July 22, 2011

The long dispute between Bangladesh and India over sharing of waters of the rivers Teesta and Feni is likely to be solved this September.
 
India and Bangladesh are set to sign a agreement of a 15 year treaty for sharing the waters of the two rivers during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka on September 6 and 7. Indian water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has confirmed this news.

Bansal had a meeting with Mashiur Rahman, Advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ahead of the meeting of the Joint River Commission to be held in Dhaka.
 
The Joint River Commission (JRC) will meet ahead of the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to finalize the agreement. Indian water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is expected to be in this meeting.
 
The river water sharing of Teesta has been a thorn in the Indo- Bangla relationship. Teesta which enters Bangladesh in its north from India has been blocked by India in spite of continuous protest by the Bangladesh Government.  The agriculture has been worse affected in parts of Bangladesh because of this block on Teesta River by India. Several tributaries have been rendered dry as well. India has been demanding a majority of the share of the river waters while Bangladesh had been demanding a 50:50 share of the waters.