Trinamool to seek INDIA support after Centre moves on Teesta water issue: Sources
Trinamool to seek INDIA support after Centre moves on Teesta water issue: Sources
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee is in touch with her INDIA bloc allies to after the Centre decided to start negotiations with Bangladesh for the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Sharing Treaty, sources told India Today TV. The Chief Minister is upset over West Bengal being left out of the talks and may soon write to the Prime Minister to lodge a formal protest, sources said.
During the recently concluded bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, the two leaders discussed the conservation and management of River Teesta and renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty.
"On the conservation and management of the Teesta river in Bangladesh, a technical team will soon visit Bangladesh for talks," PM Modi said in his media statement after the meeting.
Under the project, India is envisaged to build large reservoirs and related infrastructure to manage and conserve Teesta river water.
The move on the project comes amid a long-pending proposal to have a pact on sharing of Teesta water between the two countries.
However, this move has upset Mamata Banerjee, who has long opposed the water-sharing pact, blaming the Farakka barrage for erosion, siltation, and floods in the state.
The water-sharing deal was supposed to be signed during the Dhaka visit of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September 2011. But West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held up the deal, saying it would lead to water shortage in North Bengal.
The Farakka Agreement between Bangladesh and India on sharing of the waters of River Ganga ends in 2026. Under the treaty, the upper riparian India and lower riparian Bangladesh agreed to share the water of this transboundary river at Farakka, a dam on Bhagirathi river around 10 kms from Bangladesh border.
According to sources, the Trinamool Congress is in touch with its INDIA bloc allies and may raise the issue prominently in the upcoming Parliament session.