Dhaka, Delhi resume talks on river water sharing
By IANSMonday, January 10, 2011
DHAKA - Bangladesh Monday resumed talks with India on sharing of common river-waters.
At the secretary-level talks of the Indo-Bangla Joint River Commission (JRC), Sheikh Mohammed Wahiduzzaman, secretary of the Bangladesh water resources ministry, led the 11-member Bangladesh delegation while the six-member Indian team was led by water resources ministry secretary D.V. Singh, the Daily Star reported.
Bangladesh is expecting to reach a consensus in the talks on a 15-year interim treaty on sharing of waters of the northeastern Teesta river.
The two delegations are also likely to discuss a short-term treaty for sharing the waters of the southern Feni river, another river on the border.
The last secretary-level talks were held in Dhaka in March 2010 when both sides reached a consensus about dredging the Ichhamati river and protecting the banks of common rivers.
Bangladesh and India share some 400 rivers, including 50 major river systems, including the Brahmaputra that flows from China.
A Ganga Water Treaty was signed in 1997 during the earlier tenure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina whose visit to New Delhi in January 2010 stepped up the pace of all-round cooperation.
