Kolkata, Mar 3 (PTI) A Bangladeshi delegation of the Joint River Commission (JRC) arrived in West Bengal on Monday and visited the Ganges at Farakka regarding the Ganga Water Treaty, which is due for renewal in 2026, an official said.
One of the functions of the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district is regulation of water to Bangladesh as per the Indo-Bangladesh Treaty, 1996, on sharing of the Ganga Water.
The 86th meeting of the joint committee, as per the provisions of the Treaty, and the technical meeting under the India-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission Framework are scheduled to be held in Kolkata on March 6 and 7.
“The Bangladeshi delegation of the Joint River Commission (JRC) reached Kolkata this morning and immediately left for the joint observation site on the Ganges at Farakka. The Commission will be in Farakka until March 5,” an official of the West Bengal Irrigation & Waterways Department told PTI.
The delegation will then return to Kolkata for the two-day meeting, the official said.
According to state government officials, the Joint River Commission which includes members from the governments of India, Bangladesh and West Bengal, meets once a year to discuss issues regarding the cross-boundary river.
According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers.
The Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was constituted in 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of mutual interest on common, border, and transboundary rivers.
The Ganga Water Treaty was signed on December 12, 1996, by the then Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina. During Sheikh Hasina’s last visit to India in June – weeks before her regime was toppled in August 2024 – the two sides announced that technical teams would meet for negotiations.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to play an important role in the efforts to renew the Ganges water-sharing treaty. This comes even as she continues to oppose the Teesta River water-sharing agreement, despite both India and Bangladesh agreeing on its draft in 2011.
Last year, Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that the push to renew the Ganga Waters Treaty was “unilateral” and that the West Bengal government had not been consulted.
However, officials from the Union government had clarified that an internal committee formed by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in July 2023 had included representatives from both the Bihar and West Bengal governments — the two states through which the Ganges flows before reaching Bangladesh.
West Bengal nominated its representative to this internal committee in August 2023 and participated in three of the committee’s four meetings. PTI PNT NN
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