State Minister for Water Resources Zahid Farooque on Friday said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on interim water sharing of Kushiyara river will be signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India scheduled for September first week. He said the agreed draft of the MoU has been sent to the Indian Cabinet to complete the procedures before the signing. “We firmly believe that the MoU will be signed when our Prime Minister will be visiting India,” the State Minister told reporters at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after returning from New Delhi. He led the Bangladesh delegation at the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday. The JRC meeting was held after a pause of 12 years. Zahid informed that India has agreed to provide 153 cusec water of Kushiyara river to Bangladesh. Responding to a question, the State Minister said the agreement on the Teesta water sharing remained prepared but its signing is getting delayed due to the objection of the Chief Minister of West Bengal. “We kept them under pressure. We firmly believe that we will soon see a solution to that end,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s repeated call for concluding the long-pending Teesta water sharing deal. At the 38th ministerial level JRC meeting, the two countries discussed “issues related to water-sharing treaties” of various rivers, including Teesta and Ganga. Both sides at the meeting 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 Bangladesh-India 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 15 October to help Bangladesh address unforeseen flood events. Read: Dhaka, Delhi finalise text of MoU on interim water sharing of Kushiyara river Bangladesh and India share 54 rivers, of which seven rivers have been identified earlier for developing the framework of water sharing agreements on priority.  During the meeting, it has been agreed to widen this area of ongoing cooperation by including eight more rivers for data exchange.  The matter will be further discussed at the technical level committee of JRC. The discussions during the JRC 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. The JRC meeting was preceded by water resources secretary-level interaction on Tuesday. The Joint Rivers Commission of Bangladesh and India was constituted in 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of mutual interest on common transboundary rivers.

Recalling the historic Farakka Long March Day, the International Farakka Committee (IFC) on Sunday urged Dhaka and Delhi to sign a treaty to keep 54 common rivers flowing through the two countries from their sources to the sea. Diversion of water by constructing dams for short-term benefits is killing the natural water sources, it said in a statement. May 16 marks the Farakka Long March Day. On this day in 1976, Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani led the march from Rajshahi towards Farakka Barrage on the Gages as unilateral diversion of water rendered lower-riparian Bangladesh part of the river dry. The barrage was commissioned for a period of 41 days from April 21 to May 31 in 1975. But the diversion of water was continued unilaterally, causing huge damages to the ecology in Bangladesh. One year after the long march, the 1977 Ganges Water Sharing Treaty was signed with an 80 percent guarantee clause for five years. Also read: Farakka Long-March Day observed The second treaty on Ganges water sharing was signed in 1996 for a period of 30 years but Bangladesh is not getting water as per its terms. Unilateral water diversion by constructing dams and barrages from other common rivers, including Teesta, has increased over the years. Thus the Farakka Long March of Moulana Bhashani remains relevant even today, the IFC said. IFC organised a long march to the Brahmaputra in Chilmari in 2005 and held a big rally of nearly one million people and drew attention to the plight of the Teesta River that was rendered dry. In the following year on the 30th anniversary of the historic Farakka Long March, IFC organised a grand rally at Gobindadashi adjacent to the shoal of the Jamuna River in Bhuapur under Tangail. Bangladesh owes her origins to rivers which thus form a question of her life and death, the statement noted. The signatories to the statement are – Atiqur Rahman Salu, Chairman and Sayed Tipu Sultan, Secretary General, IFC New York; Prof. Jasim Uddin Ahmad, President, Dr. SI Khan, Senior Vice-Presient and Syed Irfanul Bari, General Secretary, IFC Bangladesh; and Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Coordinator of IFC.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday reiterated Bangladesh’s long-pending request for concluding the interim agreement on the sharing of water of the Teesta River with Bangladesh's fair share to alleviate sufferings of millions. It is necessary that Bangladesh receives its fair share of the Teesta water, the draft agreement of which has already been agreed upon by both governments in January 2011 to alleviate the sufferings and save the livelihoods of millions of people dependent on the Teesta River basin, she underscored.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India’s sincere commitment and continued efforts to conclude this agreement, in consultation with the relevant stakeholders. “There’s positive approach (from Indian side) but a date has not been fixed when it will be delivered. They can’t spell out that it’ll happen within a week,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters at a briefing at Sonargaon Hotel.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said ground-level cooperation is needed to check all those incidents happening along the India-Bangladesh border. The Indian Prime Minister came up with the remark when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested him to look after the matter properly so that the sad border incidents could be reduced to a zero level. The border incidents between the two neighbouring countries were discussed during the bilateral meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office.  PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting. “Ground-level cooperation will help check this kind of incident,” PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted the Indian Prime Minister as saying. Water sharing  Talking about the water-sharing of common rivers, including that of the Teesta River, Sheikh Hasina said the decision of signing the Teesta water-sharing treaty was taken jointly nine years back.  “But it’s yet to be implemented," she said adding that the people living in the vicinity of the Teesta River have been suffering a lot. In reply, the Indian Prime Minister said, "We’re committed to a reasonable solution to sharing of water of all the rivers." Regarding the Rohingya issue, Sheikh Hasina expected more active role of India regarding the repatriation of over one million Rohingyas. She mentioned that the Rohingyas should be repatriated as soon as possible for preventing their involvement in drug business and terrorist activities. “The sooner the better,” she said. Also read: Dhaka-Delhi to accelerate momentum; eye next 50 years diversified ties In reply, Narendra Modi said Indian wants sustainable return of the refugees. Thanks for vaccine   Sheikh Hasina thanked the Indian government for sending Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh and said this reflects India’s ‘neighbour first’ policy.  She said the first commercial consignment of Covid-19 vaccine has been used and hoped that the rest of the consignments will be delivered soon. Sheikh Hasina also thanked the Indian Prime Minister for giving 1.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine as gift. The Indian Prime Minister said that his country gifted another consignment of 1.2 million Covid-19 vaccine and 109 life-saving ambulances. Meaningful cooperation Sheikh Hasina said that Bangladesh and India are the biggest producers and users countries. “So we must need to cooperate more meaningfully for this sector,” she said. She invited foreign direct investment in state-run jute mills under the public-private partnership. In this context, she said that indiscriminately anti-dumping duties imposition is creating unnecessary conflict between our cooperation. She drew the attention of the Indian Prime Minister for quick solution. The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh is keen to effectively use the Indian lines of credit. She put emphasis on axing ineffective projects from the list under the Indian line of credit. Also read: Dhaka, Delhi ink five MoUs to boost cooperation She asked her Indian counterpart to take steps to quickly disburse line of credit so that the projects could be implemented swiftly. Modi put emphasis on increased contacts between entrepreneurs of the two countries. The Indian prime minister also expressed his desire to be a partner to launch the Bangabandhu-2 satellite. Enhanced connectivity Sheikh Hasina said that the introduction of Moitree Setu between Bangladesh and India has added a new dimension to cooperation in the communication sector. She said that Indian state Tripura can use Chattogram Airport alongside Chattogram and Mongla ports. Stating some routes to connect Bangladesh with Nepal and Bhutan, Sheikh Hasina expected consideration from India. She said that if the motor vehicles agreement among Bangladesh, India and Nepal is signed, all three countries will be benefitted. Also read: Bangladesh, India for progress of whole world: Modi Important milestone They also reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries marking the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, the Press Secretary said. During the meeting, the Prime Minister termed 50 years of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and India as an important milestone. Sheikh Hasina extended her thanks to Narendra Modi for accepting positively the proposal of Bangladesh for naming “Mujibnagar-Nadia Road” as Shadhinata Sharok. During the meeting, the Indian Prime Minister put emphasis on expediting the ongoing projects between Bangladesh and India. Besides, Narendra Modi said, India is going to establish “Bangabandhu Chair” at Delhi University in memory of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Bangladesh and India on Tuesday expressed optimism to hold a Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting this year to discuss water sharing of common rivers between the two countries.

Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday said there has been a positive progress in discussion on sharing the water of common rivers including Teesta.