Neighbours Bangladesh and India will update information on the eight of their trans-boundary rivers including the Teesta water sharing issue by September.
The decision came during a Joint Rivers Commission meeting at the secretary-level in Dhaka on Thursday (Aug 8).
Bangladesh Water Resources Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar and his Indian counterpart Upendra Prasad Singh led the talks and interim agreements are also on the cards following the data update.
According to a ministry statement on Thursday, the two sides held fruitful discussions on various trans-boundary water related issues including formation of a Joint Technical Committee for conducting a feasibility study on optimum utilization of the Ganges waters being received by Bangladesh as per Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996.
The meeting also addressed preparing a framework of interim water sharing agreements of Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Feni, Gumti, Dharla, Dudhkumar and Teesta and enhancement of cooperation in flood forecasting.
They also discussed problems of pollution in trans-boundary rivers and other issues of mutual interest for both the countries
“We can bring something positive in terms of Teesta and seven other rivers in two months,” he said.
He added that the interim agreements have been drafted but since the information are old, they need to be updated.
Responding to queries on whether the agreement will be delayed, he said that this time there was no scope for it.
On whether the agreements will be separate, he said, “It’s not the time to say that yet. Each river is different,” he said.
He declined to say anything concrete when asked if the agreements are likely to be inked during the prime minister’s October visit to India.
Dhaka and Delhi were supposed to enter an interim agreement regarding the Teesta water sharing in 2011.
It has since been delayed due to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s objection.
Meanwhile, Indian Water Secretary Upendra Prashad Singh said, “There are other eight rivers where we have reasonably good progress. We are about to come to a conclusion. There are certain issues as far those rivers are concerned.”
“We have data but those are not updates. There are certain inconsistencies in those data and we have decided that we will work on a war footing basis,” he added.
He echoed his Bangladeshi counterpart saying, they have fixed a two months deadline and by Sept 30 the two sides will be able to update the data and to remove the inconsistencies to the extent possible.
“Even if there is a data gap and there is a inconsistency, we can enter into an interim arrangement so that in the meantime we can collect more data,” he said.
“Data has to be collected in a period of time. If you have an agreement of 15 years, then collect more data and make it more robust,” the Indian representative added.
On the Ganges barrage, Singh said that India has no qualms about it but still wants to carry a large-scale feasibility study.
He added that the new technical committee that will be formed after Sep 30 will decide how long the study will take.
He added that India will not make any decisions on the rivers without consulting Bangladesh or any other party state.