India, B'desh to discuss pact on Teesta, Feni water-sharing

New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) India and Bangladesh will hold
bilateral talks here Monday to finalise the framework of a
15-year treaty for sharing waters of Teesta and Feni rivers in
the dry season.
Water Resources secretaries of the two countries will
meet after a gap of five months to "fine tune" the agreement
on water sharing which is likely to be signed during the
proposed visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to
Dhaka.
The agreement was reached during the secretary-level
talks of the Joint River Commission (JRC) on sharing water of
common rivers between the two countries in Dhaka in January
this year.
"While we have agreed on a framework, we still need to
fine-tune it," a top government functionary told PTI here
ahead of the talks.
During his day-long stay in Delhi, Bangladeshi Water
Resources Secretary Sheikh Wahiduzzaman would also extend an
invite to Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid to visit
Bangladesh for minister-level talks.
The dates of the talks will be decided later.
The two neighbouring countries share 54 common rivers.
In 1996, Bangladesh signed a treaty with India for sharing the
Ganges water.
Dhaka feels the water of Teesta is very crucial for
Bangladesh, especially during the driest period from December
to March. Sometimes in December and January, the water flow
comes down to less than 1,000 cusec from 5,000 cusec.
The two countries have been discussing to settle the
issue for over two decades.
Bangladesh submitted a draft of an interim treaty at
the minister-level talks of the JRC in New Delhi last year
when India presented some principles upon which they wanted to
close the deal.