India and Bangladesh Finalize Text of MoU On Interim Water Sharing Of Kushiyara River
• Anil Mathur
New Delhi 26 Aug.,The 38th Meeting of Ministerial level Joint Rivers Commission of India
and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi on today.
The Indian delegation was led
byMr Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Jal Shakti. The Bangladesh
delegation was led by Mr. Zaheed Farooque, State Minister for Water
Resources.Mr. AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem,
Deputy Minister for Water Resources was also part of the Bangladesh delegation.
The meeting assumes significance as it was held after a long gap of 12 years,
though the technical interactions under the framework of JRC have continued in
the intervening period. The meeting was preceded by Water Resources
Secretary-level interaction on last Tuesday.
The discussions during this bilateral meeting were held on a number
of ongoing bilateral issues of mutual interest including river water sharing of
common rivers, sharing of flood data, addressing river pollution, conducting
joint studies on sedimentation management, river bank protection works etc.Both sides finalized the text of MoU on
Interim Water Sharing of Kushiyara river.
Both sides also welcomed finalization
of the design and location of water intake point on the Feni River to meet the
drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura as per the October 2019 India
-Bangladesh MoU on this subject.
One of the important areas of cooperation, where India has been
assisting Bangladesh, is sharing of real time flood data. India has recently
extended the period of flood data sharing beyond 15th October to help Bangladesh
address unforeseen flood events.
India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which 7 rivers have
been identified earlier for developing framework of water sharing agreements on
priority. During the meeting, it has been agreed to widen this area of ongoing
cooperation by including 8 more rivers for data exchange. The matter will be
further discussed at the Technical Level Committee of JRC.
The Joint Rivers Commission of India and
Bangladesh was constituted in the year 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address
issues of mutual interest on common / border / transboundary rivers.