Inter Basin Water Transfer Link Project of India

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Dhaka to ask Delhi to ditch river interlink project
Joint River Commission meet opens in Indian capital on

The Daily Star
Reaz Ahmad
Sept 27,2003

Dhaka will ask New Delhi to drop its mega river interlink scheme that threatens to hurt Bangladesh's rivers, agriculture and ecology at the Indo-Bangla Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting opening in the Indian capital next week.

Bangladesh will also raise the issues of low-flow of water through Farakka Barrage in dry season, Indian project seeking to divert common Surma and Kushiara river waters and placing of a report on Teesta water-sharing arrangement between the two countries.

Water Resources Minister Hafiz Uddin Ahmad leaves Dhaka tomorrow for New Delhi to lead an 11-member delegation to the September 29-30 meeting, the first joint river talks between the two neighbours in two and a half years.

India plans to connect 37 rivers, including the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, by digging canals to divert major common river waters unilaterally to its drought-prone states, especially Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, under the $200 billion plan.

Water resources ministry officials said Bangladesh depends on the two major rivers for 85 per cent of its dry season surface water.

Press reports say India has formed a taskforce headed by former minister Suresh Prabhu to finalise a report on the project and is trying to tap foreign funds for its implementation.

In a recent interview with The Statesman of Kolkata, Prabhu said, "The foreign ministry is handling some of the work. I will speak with Yashwant Sinha (external affairs minister) to discuss issues with neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh."

Officials said Dhaka sent a 'note verbal' to New Delhi on August 13 through diplomatic channel, but it is yet to receive any reply. Officially, India did not inform Bangladesh about anything of its giant project.

The interlink project is the latest plan that threatens to choke Bangladesh after the federal Indian government approved a budget for the construction of controversial Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Multipurpose High-dam at the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai rivers in Manipur.

Experts fear diversion of the Barak waters for power generation will harm flow to the Surma and Kushiara, the feeders to the Meghna.

The Bangladesh delegation at the JRC meeting will ask India to explain its dam project and seek a guarantee that it would not dry up the Meghna flow.

The Bangladesh delegation to the talks also includes Water Resources Secretary Mohammad Sayef Uddin, JRC Director M Azizul Haq, members Tawhidul Anwar Khan and Emaduddin Ahmed and JRC Executive Engineer M Fazlur Rahman, Director General Mokhlesuzzaman and Chief Engineer Panna Sheikh of the Water Development Board, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tofail K Haider and Director General (South Asia) of Foreign Ministry M Fazlul Karim are also on the delegation.

The Indian side, to be led by Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi, includes Water Resources Secretary AK Goswami and Commissioner for Eastern Rivers ML Goel, among others.

Although planned to meet at least three to four times a year, the JRC meeting remained suspended since early 2001 because of Indian reluctance.

Following letters from two successive water resources ministers in Bangladesh to their Indian counterpart, Delhi agreed to the JRC meeting.

As a last-hour preparation and consultation prior to finalising the 'Position Paper,' the water resources minister held a meeting on September 25, a holiday.

Earlier on Thursday, Hafiz told newsmen that prior to going to international forums with the river interlink plan, Bangladesh would try to resolve the problem with India through all normal courses of dialogue.

During his meet with Christine I Wallich, new country representative of the World Bank in Bangladesh on Monday, Hafiz requested her not to bankroll any water project that deprives the lower riparian countries of their due share of common river waters.

Wallich assured the minister of conveying the sentiment to the World Bank headquarters.

The minister also expressed deep concern at low flow of Ganges waters to Bangladesh in the last dry season, particularly during the February-March period.

After the signing of the Ganges Water-sharing Treaty with India in 1996, expectations ran high that the two neighbours would gradually move ahead signing similar deals on 54 other common rivers.

The last JRC meet took up the Teesta water-sharing talks that ended inconclusively. Officials hope the coming meeting would focus on water sharing of seven common rivers -- the Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar, Khowai, Monu, Gumti and Muhuri.

The JRC sources said a Joint Experts Committee (JEC) of Bangladesh and India would submit a report on the draft mechanism of sharing the Teesta waters reasonably between the two nations.

Talking to The Daily Star, water resources expert Dr Ainun Nishat said sharing of common river waters was emerging as a major problem for the downstream nations.

"While China is planning to build a dam in Tibet to divert the Brahmaputra waters to drought-prone central China regions, India is going to divert the same river flows too."

"Flows to Bangladesh and Bhutan would dry up in the process," observed Nishat, a former professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. a

Dr Nishat felt that the four co-riparian countries that share the Brahmaputra should sit together and work out plans so that the river best serves all of them.

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