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Editorial

PM wants Teesta deal

Immediate implementation of the proposed treaty crucial


Bangladeshpost
Published : 28 Mar 2021 08:30 PM | Updated : 29 Mar 2021 12:32 AM

Bangladesh’s long awaited hope of getting the fair share of Teesta river’s water is yet to be implemented. In the recent visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime minister Sheikh Hasina sought implementation of the proposed Teesta agreement nine years ago.

Our premier now wants that deal to be implemented soon enough. She expressed to her counterpart that the implementation of the proposed treaty appeared crucial since the people living along the Teesta river bank are suffering because of severe water shortage.

The Indian PM repeated his sincere and continued effort to settle this agreement after discussion with the relevant stakeholders. However, same optimism were promised before and it is now time for India to talk the talk and walk the walk.

We hope that the recent discussions between the 

India-Bangladesh delegations to resolve the water sharing issue 

will bear fruit

If the Indian side doesn’t fulfil their Teesta promise soon enough, then China is sitting there with US $1 billion engineering scheme project to resolve the Teesta issue for Bangladesh. Therefore, India must act quickly if they don’t want any Chinese interference with one of their very close allies.

If we consider just in terms of fraction of populous in diverse catchment areas where livelihoods of people are reliant on Teesta water, Bangladesh must get its fair share of water without any interruptions.

We urge both the countries to resolve their differences in the Teesta water sharing issue. India’s stand on this still has not changed significantly and they just gave us hope of concluding the deal soon. However the pivotal person on this regard is the current West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who ultimately has the last say. Therefore, we hope that the recent discussions between the India-Bangladesh delegations to resolve the water sharing issue will bear fruit and the suffering of our people due to water shortage in the dry season will end once and for all.