The International Farakka Committee (IFC) has said that Indian leaders making centre-state negotiations on Ganges water a condition for extending the 30-year treaty with Bangladesh is alarming.
The treaty is set to expire at the end of 2026.
By allowing Indian state voices to have a say, IFC fears the creation of a smokescreen like the one that led to India’s failure to sign a treaty on the Teesta in 2011, which Delhi conveniently blamed on a stance taken by the then West Bengal government.
IFC in its statement noted that Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has assured Bihar its water requirements would be taken into consideration before any decision is made on renewing the Ganges treaty, as per a report published in credible sections of the Indian media, such as The Hindu and the Indian Express. His assurance followed a demand made by the Bihar government to meet the state’s demand.
Earlier, West Bengal government also wrote to New Delhi saying it should first meet the demand of Kolkata Port, Hoogli and Bhagirathi rivers. Sanjay Jha, former water resources minister of Bihar raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha on August 6. The Indian External Affairs Minister gave a written reply on August 28.
Meanwhile, on August 21 spokesman of Indian External Affairs Ministry Randhir Jaiswal told the news media that talks on extension of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty was continuing at the technical level where taking a decision is near impossible. The Ganges water sharing Treaties of 1977 and 1996 were signed at the political level, the first one between Bangladesh Minister Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan and Indian Minister Jagjivan Ram, and the second one between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Indian Prime Minister Deve Gowda.
Informed sources say, the Bangladesh government has sent a letter to the Indian Government for extension of the Ganges Treaty. But so far no response has come from New Delhi.
The IFC leaders noted that the Ganges Treaty will expire in just three months. But before the talks have been finalised or elevated to the political level smokescreen is being created over it in India. This is only a reminder of how the Teesta Treaty was stalled in 2011, they said urging Dhaka’s diplomatic moves with greater urgency than the recent successful bid for United Nations presidency.
The signatories to the statement were: Chief Adviser of IFC Prof. Jasim Uddin Ahmad; Syed Tipu Sultan, Chairman, Mohammad Hossain Khan, Secretary General of IFC New York; Mostafa Kamal Majumder, President, Mahbub Alam, General Secretary and Rafiqul Islam Azad, Joint Secretary IFC Bangladesh.