Delhi keeps Dhaka waiting

Lack of interest of successive Indian governments has held back Bangladesh from taking up major water sector development plans with support from other international quarters.   
The government has to put water sector development plans involving major transboundary river systems in general, the much-talked-about proposed Ganges Barrage on the Padma River in particular, due to non-cooperation from and direct and indirect interferences of Indian authorities, water resources ministry officials and experts said.
As Bangladesh is fully dependent on water of transboundary rivers, ‘it is impossible for the government to make long-term plans without getting formal structured assurance from India on how much water would Bangladesh get round the year, during lean season in particular, from common river systems,’ eminent water expert Ainun Nishat told New Age on Tuesday.  
In the case of India, he said, there was a clear decision, made in 2011 during the visit of then prime minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka, for jointly exploring the potentials of building common basin management. 
‘This instruction has not trickled down from political level to technical level,’ Nishat, also BRAC University emeritus professor, said clarifying that the Prime Minister’s Office of India was yet to give green signal to the water resources and external affairs ministries of the country to proceed further.
Asked about Bangladesh-India water sector cooperation, including implementation of the Ganges Barrage project, water resources minister Anwar Hossain told New Age over phone on Thursday, ‘Things have been dealt at the highest level.’
He said, ‘The two prime ministers would meet [at Shantiniketan in West Bengal in India], let’s see, what happens.’ 
Article 2 of the Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development between India and Bangladesh, signed during the visit of Manmohan Singh to Dhaka on September 06, 2011, said, ‘To enhance cooperation in sharing of the waters of common rivers, both parties will explore the possibilities of common basin management of common rivers for mutual benefit. The parties will cooperate in flood forecasting and control. They will cooperate and provide necessary assistance to each other to enhance navigability and accessibility of river routes and ports.’ 
Nishat, also former Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology professor, said that flood and crisis of water and round the year navigation can be managed for whole year by common basin management. ‘But it demands on effective coordination in respective countries and between the countries, which is missing in the case of Bangladesh and India,’ he observed. 
‘India wants to maximise benefit from river navigation and coastal shipping in Bangladesh in its own interests putting our priorities unresolved as bargaining chips,’ he said.
Bangladesh has not been benefitted from transferring goods through transit 
and transshipment from Indian mainland to its north-eastern states because of nominal charges, rather Bangladesh ‘has undertaken projects funded from Indian loan to keep rivers navigable to facilitate transhipment,’ said the water expert.
The government has, within a week of prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s return from New Delhi in April 2017, announced the postponement of the $4-billion Ganges Barrage project planned to hold back rain and river water of the monsoon because of the periodic drying up of the Ganges River in Bangladesh due to the Farakka Barrage unilaterally constructed by India. 
According to Article 41 of the joint statement issued on April 8, 2017 on Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi, ‘The two prime ministers appreciated the positive steps taken in respect of Bangladesh’s proposal for jointly developing the Ganges Barrage on the river Padma in Bangladesh.’ 
There is no progress in the implementation of the decisions made by the two governments for joint study on ‘the riverine border in the upstream area’ of the project, Bangladesh water resources ministry officials said.
Although it was mentioned in the joint statement as ‘Bangladesh’s proposal for jointly developing the Ganges Barrage’ with India, several Bangladesh officials said that it was in fact an Indian decision imposed on Bangladesh to put the entire project on hold.
China was inclined to fund and construct the barrage at Pangsha in Rajbari on the river flowing as the Padma in Bangladesh. 
Then water resources minister Anisul Islam Mahmud said on April 12, 2017 that the proposed Ganges Barrage project ‘has been abandoned.’
The government decided to revise the project and find alternative options ‘for the best use of water,’ he said after a meeting with a Chinese delegation.
India has also kept talks on water sharing of common rivers with Bangladesh stalled for over eight years holding back signing of interim agreements on Teesta and Feni rivers and making negotiations uncertain on sharing of water of Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar rivers, diplomatic sources said. 
India has turned down at least 10 formal requests from Bangladesh since 2010 to hold a water resources minister-level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission. The water resources ministers are co-chairs of the commission. 
Asked about the solutions of the situation, Nishat, also former Joint Rivers Commission member, said that there were political and technical dimensions in making the decisions involving common rivers. ‘Political directions should come from the high ups,’ he said, ‘the line ministries and technical bodies would make the decisions a reality.’ 
Asked if Bangladesh could go to international forums for legal remedy on the matter, he said, ‘No.’ Bangladesh has not ratified respective international convention and laws that can provide legal remedy, he said, adding that India too was not a party to that convention and laws.  
 

News Courtesy: wwwnewagebd.net