Bangladesh and India finalised the text of MoU on interim water sharing of Kushiyara river at the ministerial level Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday after a long gap of 12 years.
Both sides also welcomed finalisation 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, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said.
Zaheed Farooque, State Minister for the Ministry of Water Resources, led the Bangladesh delegation which included AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem, Deputy Minister and Senior Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar, among others.
The Indian delegation was led by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Jal Shakti, and Pankaj Kumar, Secretary for Ministry of Water Resources, RD & GR attended the meeting, among others.
The foreign ministry of Bangladesh said the meeting was held in a “cordial and friendly” atmosphere and discussed the whole gamut of the issues related to the common rivers between the two countries specially the Ganges, Teesta, Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla, Dudhkumar and Kushiyara.
The State Minister of Bangladesh requested his Indian counterpart for his support in signing the MoU for withdrawal of water by Bangladesh and India from the common stretch of Kushiyara river at an early date. The Indian Minister assured that the issue is under their active consideration.
Apart from this, exchange of flood related data and information, river bank protection works, common basin management, and also Indian River Interlinking Project were discussed in detail.
Bangladesh side requested for conclusion of the long pending Teesta Water Sharing Treaty at an early date. The Indian side assured of their utmost efforts in concluding the agreement, the foreign ministry said.
Both sides agreed to conduct the feasibility study for optimum utilization of water received by Bangladesh under the provision of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996.
The Indian High Commission said, 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 the 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 High Commission said.
“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.”
Thursday's meeting was preceded by Water Resources Secretary-level interaction on Tuesday.
The Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was constituted in 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of mutual interest on common or transboundary rivers.