IRL Project to help Teesta Agreement

                                                                                                                                                                                

TEESTA AND INTER-LINKING RIVERS

Wednesday, 12 August 2015

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 MS Menon | in Oped

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To facilitate an early Teesta accord, it is necessary to expedite and complete the Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga canal project, which can augment flows in the Teesta during the lean season. The Union Government has to act fast

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Bangladesh scripted a new chapter in India-Bangladesh relations. New Delhi and Dhaka should now move forward and find a solution to the most vexatious issue — the Teesta river issue, which has been under discussion since a long time.

It is unfortunate that this issue is stuck in the whirlpool of India’s internal hydro-politics. It has also raised some lingering doubts in our neighbourhood about our seriousness on the issue. Consensus building with West Bengal in this regard has been a complex and arduous task, thereby resulting in our failure to make any breakthrough in the proposed sharing agreement.

The Teesta river originates in Sikkim, flows past Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and then joins the Brahmaputra river in Bangladesh. It has a drainage area of 12,729 sq km, of which 83 per cent is situated in the Indian territory.

Presently, the river valley projects implemented in Sikkim are all hydro-projects that have no impact on the river flow. But the Gajoldoba barrage in West Bengal, situated about 90 km upstream of the international border with Bangladesh, envisages irrigation, water supply and also power generation.

Similarly, the Dalia barrage in Bangladesh, constructed 15 km downstream of the border, envisages irrigation and other benefits. During the non-monsoon period, between November to April, both experience shortage of water for irrigation.

Teesta is one of the 54 rivers that flow through the India-Bangladesh border. Of these, nine, including the Ganga and the Teesta river, are important, on which water-sharing issues between the two countries had cropped up. In 1996, the Ganga water-sharing agreement was signed, but discussions on others are still going on.

Since 1972, Bangladesh had been insisting on a 50 per cent share of Teesta waters to meet its requirements. However, after prolonged discussions, in 1983, an ‘understanding on an ad hoc sharing’ of Teesta river flows in lean season was reached between the two countries so as to help our neighbour get financial assistance for the construction of the Dalia barrage.

According to this ‘understanding’, of the dry season river flows, Bangladesh got 36 per cent of the share and India got 39 per cent while the remaining 25 per cent remained unallocated, pending further discussions.

Many factors have been considered by Delhi to arrive at a workable solution to the water-sharing issue. It was felt that since there is a likely regeneration of 25 per cent flows between the Indian and Bangladesh barrages across the Teesta, the additional 25 per cent sought by our neighbour during the lean season can be released by West Bengal.

However, the State Government was not willing to  release water from its barrage as it apprehended that a major project envisaging irrigation of 9.22 lakh hectare and power generation of 67.5 mw could be affected if this water is spared to Bangladesh.

West Bengal has its own reasons for not making any commitment to release water from its barrage. The main reason is the uncertainty of requisite quantum of river flows during the summer months. Hence, to make the Teesta water-sharing a reality, the only available alternative is to augment the river flows during the non-monsoon months.

In this connection, the Indian river-linking project offers an excellent opportunity to improve the Teesta river flows.

The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga link canal is one of the major proposals under the Himalayan component of the IRL project. It envisages diversion of the surplus waters from the rivers like Manas and Sankosh (tributaries of the Brahmaputra river), to Ganga and beyond upto Mahanadi and thereafter towards south to meet the requirement of water short areas.

By incorporating the necessary provisions in the canal structures, it is possible to release from the MSTG canal, the requisite waters into the Teesta at a point upstream of the Gajoldoba barrage during the lean season to augment the river flows.

In such a situation, West Bengal will be able to release the needed flows downstream to fulfil the water-sharing agreement with Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has been raising objections against India’s IRL project, pointing out that the project will affect the water availability downstream in their rivers. Since, in addition to Teesta, the MSTG link canal can also augment the river flows in the Ganga in a similar way, it is possible to convince our neighbour that the Teesta project, when implemented, can be a win-win situation for both the countries.

In view of these facts, to facilitate an early Teesta accord, it is necessary to expedite and complete the MSTG canal project which can augment flows in the Teesta during the lean season. The Government of India has to act fast in this regard. 

(The writer is a former Member Secretary, Indian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, Central Water Commission)

Teesta Accord

Indian Express

Time To Look At Teesta

Delhi must now prioritise settling the water-sharing issue with Dhaka

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Written by M.S. Menon | Published:August 13, 2015 12:00 am

Having resolved the longstanding issue of enclaves during the prime minister’s recent visit to Bangladesh, New Delhi has to focus now on other bilateral issues, the most contentious one being the sharing of Teesta waters. Though the PM’s visit has significantly contributed to removing some of the mistrust that plagued India-Bangladesh relations, a strong sense of disappointment is evident in the local media about the failure to make a breakthrough on water-sharing.

Sikkim has constructed some hydro-power projects across the Teesta, but these do not cause any impact on the flow downstream. However, there are two irrigation projects on the Teesta, a barrage at Gajoldoba in West Bengal and another at Dalia in Bangladesh, which draw water from the river to meet irrigation needs. The dispute about Teesta waters arose mainly because of the shortage of water during the dry months.

Since 1972, Bangladesh has been insisting that a 50 per cent share of Teesta waters be made available to the lower riparian country to meet its requirements. In July 1983, an “understanding” on an ad hoc sharing of waters was reached to help Bangladesh get financial assistance for constructing the Dalia barrage. According to this, Bangladesh would get a share of 36 per cent of the lean season flows and India 39 per cent, while the remaining 25 per cent would remain unallocated pending further discussion.

India has been examining many parameters for arriving at a workable solution. A possible option considered was that — since the regeneration of flow in the river channel between the Gajoldoba and Dalia barrages is about 25 per cent, which would be available at the downstream barrage — the additional 25 per cent demanded by Bangladesh could be released by West Bengal from the upstream barrage. But the state had its own compulsions for meeting irrigation needs as the summer flows are generally erratic. Hence, West Bengal did not want to commit to releasing water from the upstream barrage, at the cost of its major project envisaging the irrigation of 9.22 lakh hectares in the ultimate stage. Thus, the water-sharing arrangement got embroiled in domestic hydro-politics, stalling further action to find an acceptable solution to the dispute.

It is apparent that to make Teesta water-sharing a reality, there is a need to augment the river flows during the non-monsoon months, without which West Bengal would not allow further discussion on the subject. The deficit in flows can be met by the transfer of water from other water-endowed basins. In this connection, the proposals made in the Indian River Linking (IRL) project could be considered. The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga (MSTG) link canal is one of the links proposed under the Himalayan component of the IRL. It envisages diversion of the surplus waters of the Manas and Sankosh rivers to the Teesta, Ganga and beyond, to meet the requirements of water-deficit areas. By making suitable provisions in the link canal, it should be possible to release the required water into the Teesta during the summer to augment river flows, thus meeting the requirements being proposed for water-sharing with Bangladesh.

It would be of interest to note here that while the IRL project was being deliberated on by India, Bangladesh had been raising objections, stating that it would affect water availability downstream. Since India would be augmenting the Teesta flows from the IRL project, to counter Bangladesh’s objection, we could also make provisions in the MSTG canal to augment river flows in the Ganga in a similar way. It would then be possible to convince our neighbour that the project would be a win-win for both countries.

The Centre must, therefore, act fast and expedite the implementation of the proposed MSTG link.

The writer is former member-secretary, INCID, Ministry of Water Resources