Basu Holds The Key To River Water Pact With Bangla

The visit of external affairs minister I K Gujral to Dhaka about a fortnight ago was a remarkably astute move towards rebuilding confidence between the two countries, they add, even if he did not make any tangible progress in the resolution of the water-sharing dispute that has marred the relationship for two decades.

Gujral's visit extricated the relationship from the stagnant water in which it was lying, said former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey, who was closely associated in writing the 1977 Indo-Bangladeshi agreement on water-sharing which was later never implemented.

But sources close to the United Front government said that despite Gujral's keenness to see the water dispute settled with Dhaka, New Delhi would not be able to accommodate Bangladesh without the key approval of West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

 

Only if Jyoti Basu agrees that West Bengal will not utilise any water along the feeder canal in the lean season can there be any agreement, the sources said, otherwise there is no meeting of minds in the government right now.

That was why, they added, the recent meeting of Bangladeshi foreign minister Abdus Samad with Jyoti Basu in Calcutta was significant. Gujral made it clear before going to Dhaka and during the visit, the source said, that West Bengal would have to be brought along. The sources added: These are some of the facts of life that we will have to live with.

The sources said it would require great political will on both sides to produce a water-sharing agreement that both countries would be able to sell to their own people.

Bangladesh, for example, is believed to have told India recently that New Delhi would have to give Dhaka more than what it gave in 1977 when an agreement on the long-term augmentation of waterwas signed with Gen Zia-ur Rahman, then premier of Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina, the current Prime Minister and daughter of Mujib-ur Rahman, is believed to have said that unless New Delhi was seen to be improving upon Dhaka's rightful share, India will continue to seen as the regional bully boy.

The Bangladeshis feel India is depriving them of water, that they are being wronged against, that New Delhi is infringing its sovereign rights by going back on the 1977 agreement, an analyst on South Asian affairs said.

The Bangladeshis perceive the Farakka barrage near Calcutta as a manifestation of the long arm of Indian imperialism, especially in the dry summer months. They accuse India, the upper riparian country, of using most of the available water before it reaches the lower reaches of their country.

According to the 1977 agreement, Bangladesh would get 34,500 cusecs of water in the lean season, along with minimum guarantees that they would receive 80 per cent of the share, irrespective of the decline in the upstream utilisation of the water. This means that the upper riparian states of West Bengal, and to a lesser extent UP and Bihar, would not be able to use much water during the dry season. Since the situation on the ground today is completely different