The International Farakka Committee (IFC) has urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to pursue Teesta water sharing and renewal of Ganges treaty earnestly with guarantees and arbitration clauses during her upcoming talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a statement issued on Saturday, IFC, which campaigns for Bangladesh’s fair share of water from the trans-boundary rivers with India, said that the Kushiara River’s water sharing is not a priority for Bangladesh, and its inclusion in JRC talks indicates the eagerness of the Indian side to divert attention from the Teesta issue. Before signing the proposed MOU on the Kushiara, Bangladesh should ask for the long-awaited treaty on the Teesta to be signed, they said. Also read: Surma, Kushiara rivers to be dredged to restore navigability: FM IFC leaders said since abandoning the Tipaimukh Dam project at the instance of India's central Forest Advisory Committee for over half a decade, India has refrained from any interventions on the Barak river system from where two tributaries, the Surma and the Kushiara, flow into the Meghna in Bangladesh. Out of 54 common rivers that flow into Bangladesh from India, 52 have already been embanked. Intervention on the Kushiara would adversely affect Bangladesh's third largest river, the Meghna, and the haors of the greater Sylhet area, the IFC said as a note of caution. For Bangladesh, the most burning issue is Teesta water which has been entirely diverted from the Gazal Doba barrage in West Bengal for about two decades, rendering the Bangladesh part of the river completely dry in violation of international law and practice, with adverse environmental consequences for 3 crore Bangladeshis living in its basin. The 30-year Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, which will end in 2026, on the other hand has not ensured the availability of adequate water to Bangladesh. The treaty needs to be updated with guarantees and arbitration clauses that India has in its water treaties with Nepal and Pakistan, the IFC leaders said. They said Bangladesh should pursue integrated basin-wide management of common rivers to keep the natural systems alive instead of artificially dividing those at man-made political borders. When dams and embankments on rivers are being demolished in the rest of the world, these cannot be built afresh on our common rivers. Also read: Implement Teesta management and restoration master plan: IFC 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 President, Syed Erfanul Bari, IFC Bangladesh; and Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Convener IFC.

Leaders of the International Farakka Committee (IFC) have extended their support to the government’s initiative to implement the Teesta Master Plan with Chinese support, saying it is a proper and timely move. Expressing their grave concerns over the recent flooding, the IFC said an untimely flood disaster along the Teesta in Bangladesh has caused extensive damages to the property of lakhs of people along its two banks. Thousands of dwelling houses and homesteads have been washed away with riverbank erosion. Standing crops on lakhs of acres of land have been damaged while roads and embankments have been eroded snapping road-links among the districts of the greater Rangpur region. “In this context, we consider the initiative taken by the government to implement a Teesta master plan with the help of China is a proper and timely one,” the statement said. “Although this project is no substitute for keeping the river alive by ensuring its natural flow, it’s expected to help reduce the damages caused by floods and help improve the lot of the people of the region through coordinated development activities. The river will get a new life when time will come to restore its natural flow,” it said. Read: Implement the Teesta Project with cooperation of China: Intl Farakka Committee The committee said the disaster has been caused by the discharge of floodwater through the Gajoldoba Barrage floodgates following excessive rainfall along the upper catchment of the Teesta in Sikkim. Embankments at about 17 places in the upper Teesta were damaged by the floods. But the Bangladesh authorities were not alerted before releasing the water. Only two weeks before, the Teesta in Bangladesh was a dry barren land as all water was diverted from Gajoldoba Barrage in West Bengal, added the statement. The Teesta River in Bangladesh is a dead river during the dry season. Despite repeated assurances, no treaty has been signed for the management of the river’s water. People now can walk on foot from one bank of the river to the other, according to the statement. Only seepage from the Gajal Doba barrage flows into Bangladesh. During the monsoon, the river causes disastrous floods, the statement pointed out. According to one account, five waves of flood came down the Teesta in 2021 but a disastrous flood as late as October was never experienced before. The statement said last week’s flood disaster has caused extensive losses to at least 80,000 families, according to a preliminary estimate. The damaged property include ripe paddy, onion, garlic, maize, animal fodder, homesteads, clothes, preserved winter garment and household crockery and utensils. Read: Flood: Farakka Committee blasts India’s upstream management of common rivers Bangladesh must do something to pull out three crore people of the Teesta basin from this helpless situation, protect their lives and property and maintain its environmental balance. Bangladesh cannot sit idle in the face of people’s miseries, the statement added. The committee leaders suggest the Teesta Master Plan can be expanded to cover other rivers – Atrai, Korotoa and Punarbhaba, including Chalan Beel which lie in the old Teesta Basin – to ensure overall socio-economic development of the Northwestern region of Bangladesh. This will help recharge groundwater and keep all the tube-wells functional throughout the year. The signatories to the statement were – Atiqur Rahman Salu, chairman, Sayed Tipu Sultan, secretary general, IFC, New York; Prof. Jasim Uddin Ahmad, President, Dr. SI Khan, Senior Vice-President, Syed Irfanul Bari, general secretary of IFC Bangladesh and Mostafa Kamal Majumder, coordinator of IFC.