United News of Bangladesh

Water Resources Minister Md Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee on Thursday said Bangladesh wants a new agreement with India on Ganges water sharing, not a renewal of the existing treaty that is set to expire this year. Specifically, Dhaka will be seeking to insert a guarantee clause to protect the country’s interests and ensure its required share of water. “We certainly want a new agreement. We want to conclude it while protecting the interests of our country,” he said. The minister made the remarks while talking to reporters after attending an event titled “High Level Event on Bangladesh Rivers Pollution Control, Conservation and Management of the Rivers Surrounding Capital Dhaka,” organised by the Team Europe Union at Aloki in Gulshan. The minister said the first agreement, signed in 1977, was initially for five years and was subsequently continued for periods of around four to five years. It had a guarantee clause specifying how Bangladesh would receive its share of water. He said another agreement was signed in 1996 for 30 years, but the guarantee clause was not included in that agreement. “Even then, we continued it in the interest of the country and to maintain friendship, regardless of which government was in power. It was a continuous process,” he said. The existing 30-year agreement is due to expire on December 12 this year, and the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) has already started working on the issue, Anee said. “We are very hopeful that the agreement will be concluded through good friendship between the two countries. We have a strong proposal to include the guarantee clause anew,” he said. The minister said Bangladesh, being a downstream country, needs water at the right time and in the required quantity during both the dry and monsoon seasons. “There should be a guarantee clause so that, based on our entitlement, we receive the right water at the right time,” he said. He said a lack of water during the dry season could severely affect agriculture and fish production and ultimately hamper the country’s economic development. “If there is no water during the dry season and there is no guarantee for receiving it, we will suffer greatly,” Anee said. He said excessive water flow during the monsoon could also cause widespread flooding, riverbank erosion and damage to homes and settlements along rivers and canals. “If a guarantee clause specifies how much water will flow at what time and in how many cusecs, we will receive water according to our requirements,” he said. Anee also said the government has already obtained several domestic and international feasibility studies, including technical assistance, for the proposed Teesta Barrage project. The Bangladesh-India Ganga/Ganges Water Treaty is expiring in December this year. The Ganges Water Treaty was signed on December 12, 1996 for a period of 30 years. Bangladesh and India share 54 rivers, including the Ganges, or Ganga.

The Ministry of Water Resources will soon hand over the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment project to the city corporations to improve drainage management and reduce long-standing waterlogging in the area. Water Resources Minister Md Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee made the announcement on Wednesday after a meeting with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on the DND project held at the Cabinet Division conference room at the Secretariat. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the minister said waterlogging has remained a major problem in the DND area for many years despite completion of a development project launched in 2016. “A project was launched in 2016 and it completed in 2024. But we are still not getting expected benefits and waterlogging continues in many areas,” he said. Anee said representatives from the Water Resources Ministry, Local Government Ministry, Dhaka and Narayanganj city corporations, Narayanganj deputy commissioner’s office and experts attended the meeting and elaborately discussed the long-standing waterlogging problem in the DND embankment area and possible ways to address it. “After detailed discussions, we have decided that the DND embankment project under the Water Resources Ministry will be handed over to the (Dhaka and Narayanganj) city corporations,” he said. The minister said most parts of the DND embankment area fall under the jurisdictions of the Dhaka South and Narayanganj city corporations. He expressed hope that coordinated efforts by all agencies will help remove waterlogging and ensure better waste management in the area. “The city corporations will also supervise waste management so that canals and drainage channels remain free from waste,” he added. Anee also said the government plans to take up another project involving around 30 kilometres of new drainage infrastructure to further improve the drainage system in the DND area. “We will soon start the work so that people can receive the benefits quickly. We are hopeful that visible progress can be achieved very soon. We expect to complete the process within two weeks,” he added. State Minister for Water Resources Forhad Hossain Azad, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Mir Shahe Alam, Dhaka South City Corporation Administrator Abdus Salam, Rajdhani Unnayn Kartripakkah (RAJUK) Chairman Engineer Md Riazul Islam and Local Government Division Secretary Md Shahidul Hassan, among others, attended the meeting.