JRC ministerial meeting after one decade in Delhi
After a disruption of over a decade, the Bangladesh-India Joint River Commission (JRC) is going to hold a ministerial meeting in Delhi on 25 August.
Though the meeting has been scheduled before the upcoming India trip of prime minister Sheikh Hasina in September, no progress is likely to happen regarding the water management agreement of the River Teesta.
However, the meeting is expected to bring progress in the water management of other common rivers. Of them, the agreement on withdrawal of water from the Kushiyara River and the announcement of a joint study on the utilization of the Ganges water may be finalised.
Officials of foreign and water resources ministries confirmed the meeting schedule to Prothom Alo. Soon after finalising the schedule of the prime minister’s India trip, Bangladesh had pushed for the JRC meeting citing its importance in providing guidance on various issues of cooperation, particularly on water distribution of the common rivers.
State minister for water resources Zahid Faruk will lead the Bangladesh delegation while India’s water resource minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will lead his nation at the 38th JRC ministerial-level meeting.
Foreign secretary (east) Mashfee Binte Shams told Prothom Alo that India had proposed to hold the JRC ministerial-level meeting on 24 August and secretary-level meeting on 23 August. Later, the both sides discussed the proposal and reached a decision to hold the ministerial meeting on 25 August and secretary-level meeting on 23 August.
The last ministerial-level meeting was held in March 2010. The meeting was supposed to finalise an interim agreement on sharing water of the Teesta River, but it did not happen due to some issues.
A draft of the interim agreement was formulated later in 2011, but the deal was not signed between Bangladesh and India as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee strongly opposed it.
The issue is unlikely to be settled in the upcoming JRC meetings as the officials of foreign and water resources ministries told Prothom Alo. However, Bangladesh will table the issue like the previous meetings, they said.
Besides, there is no possibility to sign the agreement on sharing water of the Feni river despite a keen interest from the Indian side. This deal was almost finalised in 2011, but Bangladesh refrained from signing the deal due to disagreement on Teesta water sharing.
Mahmudur Rahman, a member of JRC, said in forums like JRC, the two countries usually exchange proposed agendas and finalize the topics based on consensus from both sides. Now, the process of finalising the agenda is underway.
According to diplomatic sources and the JRC, the issue of finalising a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the withdrawal of water from the Kushiyara river may get importance in the JRC ministerial meeting.
Bangladesh wants to use the Kushiyara river water to cultivate 5,000 acres of land in Sylhet. Water will be extracted from the river and irrigated to the croplands through three canals. But it requires formal consent from India to extract water from the common river.
Moreover, the JRC meetings are expected to discuss the outline agreements of Manu, Dharla, Khowai, Gomti and Dudhkumar rivers, which have been among the topics over the last few years.
The Ganges water sharing agreement will expire in 2026, but the water of the shared river could not be utilized fully. A joint survey is supposed to be done in this regard. The JRC may take a decision so that the survey can be announced after the meeting of prime ministers.
The diplomatic sources at both countries said India has recently highlighted the issue of water management of the common rivers. India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar, at an international conference on rivers in Guwahati, mentioned the issue of coordinated action for water management of 54 common rivers.
A decision may come regarding the issue after the talks between the two prime ministers next month.