India to go slow on Teesta deal


source:bdnews24.com New Delhi correspondent

New Delhi, Aug 7 (bdnews24.com)—India is reluctant to immediately speed up negotiations for an agreement with Bangladesh for sharing water of Teesta, because the ruling Congress in New Delhi and its ally Trinamool Congress do not want to put at risk their political fortunes in the country's eastern state of West Bengal.

Highly-placed sources in the Indian government said New Delhi would possibly move ahead towards signing an agreement with Dhaka on Teesta water sharing only after the legislative assembly (Bidhan Sabha) elections in West Bengal next year. The deal could have political repercussions in the state, which is also largely dependent on the river for irrigation and hydropower generation.

India's finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also from West Bengal and in Dhaka for a short visit, is also likely to informally explain the domestic political compulsions of the ruling dispensation in New Delhi to foreign minister Dipu Moni and prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Both Hasina and Moni are expected to air Dhaka's concerns over tardy progress in negotiations for an agreement on Teesta during their meetings with Mukherjee.

Teesta flows through Sikkim and northern part of West Bengal in India before entering Bangladesh.

The Trinamool Congress led by India's railway minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to pose a very tough challenge to the ruling Left Front in the assembly elections in the state. The Left Front, led by Communist Party of India (Marxist), has been ruling the state for the past 33 years. The Congress has been taking support from the Trinamool Congress to run the country's Union Government and is keen to see the leftists out of power in West Bengal.

"We had the minister level meet of the Joint River Commission last March. I had a very free and frank discussion with my Bangladeshi counterpart Ramesh Chandra Sen, who came here for the meet. Now it is my turn to go to Dhaka for the next round of talks," said the Indian water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.

"I would possibly go there sometime next year."

The state assembly elections in West Bengal are likely to be held in April or May next year.

Sources said the officials of the two countries will, however, continue to be in touch to discuss the technical issues related to sharing of water of the common river and try to wrinkle out as much differences as possible before the ministerial meet next year.

In the last Bangladesh-India Joint River Commission meet last March, New Delhi had handed to Dhaka a "statement of principles" for sharing of Teesta waters during the dry season. Bangladesh, on the other hand, gave India a draft of an "interim agreement" for the same purpose.

Sen and Bansal had asked the water resources secretaries of both the countries to examine the drafts for "an expeditious conclusion" of an agreement on Teesta.

Though the broad contours of each other's proposals appeared by and large acceptable to both Bangladesh and India, sources said the officials and experts of the two sides were still studying and assessing the possible impacts of some of the aspects of both the drafts.

Irrigation and waterways minister of West Bengal, Subhas Naskar, had participated in the JRC meeting last March. He had stated that the West Bengal government too had been keen to do its bit to help New Delhi and Dhaka to reach an agreement for sharing of water of river Teesta maintaining the spirit of friendly relation between the two neighbours.

He, however, had also stressed that New Delhi should also ensure that the deal had enough safeguards for the interests of the people, particularly the farmers, of West Bengal.

Banerjee is understood to have conveyed to prime minister Manmohan Singh and Bansal recently that any agreement between New Delhi and Dhaka on Teesta could be utilised by the ruling leftists to blunt the joint offensive by the Congress and Trinamool Congress against them during next year's battle of ballots.

She is believed to be of the view that New Delhi should make a move on the issue only after the elections in her home state.

Over 10 lakh hectares of land in six northern districts of West Bengal are dependent on water from Teesta for irrigation.

Indian government has plans to build six hydro-electric power plants on Teesta. The Ministry of Environment and Forest of India's Union Government last June gave its nod for resumption of survey for three hydro-electric power projects on Teesta and its tributaries in Sikkim with a combined potential of 709 megawatt (MW). Apart from Sikkim, West Bengal too is likely to be benefited by the three proposed power-plants.

India's power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde inaugurated the 510 MW Teesta Stage-V Power Station of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation in Sikkim on July 4, 2009.

source:bdnews24.com/bd/1621h