Bangladesh
Teesta River Dhaka awaiting New Delhi's response on Teesta note
Dhaka, March 24: The Foreign Ministry said that Bangladesh is awaiting a response to the note verbale from New Delhi on the issue of joint Teesta river to decide the next course of action.
"We have not yet received any response (note verbal). After receiving the reply from New Delhi, we will take our next step," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin told reporters during the weekly briefing at the ministry on Thursday afternoon.
Foreign Secretary Masood Bin Momen told the media that Bangladesh had sent a note verbale to New Delhi seeking an explanation of West Bengal's proposed projects to reduce flow in the Teesta. A few days later, the spokesperson of the ministry made this comment. Sabreen said the Ministry of External Affairs had recently sent a note verbale through the Indian High Commission in Dhaka regarding reduction in water flow and reiterated Bangladesh's special interest in concluding a long-awaited agreement for transboundary uniform river water sharing.
When asked whether Dhaka has raised the issue of transboundary river water distribution at the ongoing United Nations Water Conference in New York, Sabrin said, Bangladesh has highlighted the country's national policy on sustainable development of water resources in the meeting.
Since the Awami League government came to power in 2009, the Teesta water sharing agreement has been under discussion. Dhaka and New Delhi were scheduled to sign the Teesta Treaty during former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh in 2011. Then West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was also supposed to accompany him. But Mamata Banerjee refused to accompany the tour at the last moment, opposing the deal. Disappointment spread over the lack of agreement and the Indian Prime Minister's visit at the time did not go as expected. India and Bangladesh agreed to sign the agreement, but it could not be implemented due to the opposition of the West Bengal state government.
According to recent Indian media reports, the West Bengal state government has taken a policy decision to dig two new canals to divert Teesta water for irrigation purposes in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts.
