It is frustrating, somewhat thankless, to pick out a meaningful artifact from the strewn debris of what is now a scrunched up Teesta water sharing pact between India and its strategically valuable eastern neighbour: Bangladesh. Who bulldozed the pact is a matter of debate. The debate would hardly die down and may eventually die out like inconclusive international treaties underwritten by sub-regional interests.
Though it would be an exaggeration to say that a failed Teesta treaty would wash away the fortunes of Mujib’s daughter, it would definitely give the fundamentalist anti-India outfits a stick to beat the Awami League chief. Already Bangla politicians like former Minister MK Anwar has gone on the offensive, calling upon citizens to wage another “war of Independence” against Hasina for trying to sell her country’s honour to India. An aggressive Opposition at home and an unyielding neighbour across the border in Kolkata forced Hasina to drop the transit treaty with India which had the potential to transform the economy of India’s north-east.
Anwar is not alone. He is joined by Shafiul Alam Prodhan of Jatiyo Ganotantrik Party (JAGPA), who thundered at a Dhaka gathering how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka marks the last day of Independence of Bangladesh. A multitude of Bangladeshi tabloids has depicted India as “a country that takes but never gives.” One of them went to the extent of calling Mamata Banerjee a “stunt-loving Chief Minister of West Bengal” for preventing the Centre to sign a treaty that could in the longer run hurt Indian interests.
But then it is easy to blame Banerjee for her “impulsive, diplomatically insensitive and clumsy ways” but hard to appreciate her compulsions. Like Sk Hasina, the infallibility of her right to safeguard the interests of her own people who have voted her to power with great majority cannot be questioned. One of the major rivers of North Bengal the 414 km Teesta — or Trisrota, an assimilation of three rivers — originating at the Kangshe glacier of Sikkim, and after flowing 151 km through that state enters northern West Bengal Bengal where it covers a stretch of 123 km before losing itself into the Brahmaputra near Rangpur in Bangladesh after a 121-km-long journey in that country. The river runs for 19 km along the borders of the two countries.
In the peak season the river discharges more than 75,000 cusecs of water while in the lean season it trims down to a mere 400 cusecs. While India plans to use the river to irrigate 6 districts of North Bengal, Bangladesh plans to irrigate its four districts from the Daliya dam on the river being constructed across the border.
Sources close to Banerjee said that she was given an impression by certain bureaucrats — they never mentioned National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon though — that Bengal’s interests would be preserved and she would have to part with only 25,000 cusecs of water. This same source claimed that it was concealed from Banerjee that the External Affairs Ministry had already committed to give Bangladesh 33,000 cusecs.
When an intermediary between the Prime Minister and Banerjee reminded that it would be risky to steal 8,000 cusecs from under her nose he was told that she will be “managed” in the last moment in Dhaka by diplomats who would brief her about the so-called twists and turns of diplomacy. Banerjee was furious when Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi reported this to her and she decided to put here foot down.
Her propensity for playing to the gallery apart, Banerjee’s concern for North Bengal is genuine. The six districts of Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and parts of Malda heavily depend on mountain streams for irrigation. Out of these the two Dinajpurs suffer under perennial draught-like conditions. Though snow-fed, the North Bengal rivers — Teesta, Mahananda, Kankar, Raidak and Jaldhaka — aren’t broad enough to feed the districts.
Against this backdrop the Government started the Teesta Barrage project way back in 1975 but hardly made any progress till the Central government accorded it the status of a national project in 2008. Notwithstanding its current special status, experts doubt its early completion, particularly at a time when the project has hit a roadblock.
According to West Bengal’s Irrigation Minister Manas Bhunia, the Department has Rs 377 crore for the project but no land for construction. “We have funds, technology and much else, but the only impediment is land,” Bhunia said. About 425 acres would be needed to complete the four phases of work in 20011-2012, but the state government has only about 275 acres with itself.
The Chief Minister is aware of the medley of issues that dog North Bengal. From a wobbly peace in Darjeeling to the prickly tribal sentiments of Dooars and yet again the pressure of fulfilling the pre-electoral promises including revival of a sagging tea economy the problems are far too many and she can hardly afford to add Teesta to flood the Writers Buildings with more issues.
Finally it is worthwhile for Bangladesh experts who fault the Indian establishment for failing to get the virtual corridor facilities from Bangladesh in the name of ‘transit’ (which would surely help New Delhi maintain the integrity of the country particularly in reference to the North-east) to brush up on their facts.
With the main Teesta barrage not in place (it has taken 36 years to complete 14 per cent of the project) and its completion not in sight at least in the near future, a treaty over a non-existent facility would hardly stand the test of Law.
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