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Mahesh

30/06/24 06:29 AM IST

Teesta treaty

In News
  • A technical team will soon visit Bangladesh to discuss conservation and management of the Teesta river in Bangladesh.
Tessta river
  • Teesta is a 414km long river flowing through the Indian states of West Bengal, and Sikkim before going to the Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh.
  • It is the fourth largest transboundary river shared between India and Bangladesh after the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna river systems.
  • Total catchment area: 1.75 million sq. km
Dispute
  • 1951: The then-East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India signed the ‘India-East Pakistan Agreement on the Sharing of the Ganges Waters,’ which included the Teesta River. The agreement provided for the equitable sharing of the river’s waters.
  • 1972: The Joint River Commission (JRC) was established by India and Bangladesh in the Indo-Bangla Treaty of Friendship.
  • 1983: Agreement on ad hoc sharing of Teesta water. According to the agreement, ad hoc sharing is valid until 1985 end.
  • 1998: Bangladesh started the “Teesta Barrage” irrigation project (3 cropping seasons per year).
  • 2011: An interim deal that was supposed to last for 15 years – gave India 42.5% and Bangladesh 37.5% of Teesta water.
  • Article 253 of the Indian Constitution gives power to the Union Government to enter any transboundary river water-related treaty with a riparian state.
  • The center cannot do it arbitrarily without taking into consideration the social, political, and eco-impact of such a treaty in the catchment area.
  • In 2011, the West Bengal government commissioned a study on the Teesta issue under the noted hydrologist Kalyan Rudra
  • This is not acceptable to Bangladesh, where the water is required mainly during the December – April period which is considered to be the leanest.
2011 Proposal
  • In 2011, when the proposal for sharing Teesta water was drawn up, it was said India would get 42.5% and Bangladesh 37.5% of the river water from December to March.
  • A tributary of the Brahmaputra, the Teesta river originates from the Tso Lhamo Lake at an elevation of about 5,280 metres in north Sikkim.
  • The river travels for about 150 km in Sikkim and 123 km in West Bengal, before entering Bangladesh from Mekhligunj in Cooch Behar district; it flows another 140 km in Bangladesh and joins the Bay of Bengal.
  • Teesta is Bangladesh’s fourth largest trans-boundary river and its floodplain covers an area of 2,750 square kilometres in Bangladesh.
  • But 83% of the river’s catchment area lies in India and the remaining 17% is in Bangladesh, supporting 8.5% of its population and 14% of its crop production. 
Ganga Treaty
  • The Ganga water sharing treaty with Bangladesh completes 30 years in 2026 and a renewal of the agreement is on the cards.
  • The Trinamool Congress chairperson has pointed out that water sharing with Bangladesh has changed the Ganga’s morphology and affected lakhs of people in West Bengal owing to river erosion.
  • Lakhs of people have been displaced from their habitation rendering them homeless and also leading to their loss of livelihood.
  • The reduced silt load in Hooghly has impeded the nourishment of the Sundarban delta.

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