Mamata Banerjee on Monday said it was unfortunate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi hadn’t involved the Bengal government when he had discussed the extension of the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty with his Bangladesh counterpart.

The Bengal chief minister also underscored that the sharing of the Teesta’s waters with Bangladesh could affect the water supply in north Bengal.

Speaking at an administrative meeting in the Bengal secretariat Nabanna, the chief minister said: “The Prime Minister discussed the extension of the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty (with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina) but we were not involved in it. This is unfortunate.”

She pointed out that when India and Bangladesh had signed the GWST in 1996, it was decided that the Centre would carry out dredging in Farakka from where water is released to Bangladesh.

“The decision was made to ensure we don’t face a water shortage. However, no dredging has been carried out in the Ganga so far. Also, a package of ₹700 crore was announced then for anti-erosion measures and the rehabilitation of the affected people. So many homes were lost; so many people suffered. Not a penny has been provided so far,” said the chief minister.

The GWST will expire in 2026. When Hasina visited India last month, it was decided that both the countries would work on modalities for the extension of the treaty.

Mamata took a dig at the Narendra Modi government for its insistence on sharing the waters of the Teesta, a major river in north Bengal, with the neighbouring country.

“Now, the central government is saying that it will share the waters of the Teesta with Bangladesh. The Teesta swells during monsoons but at other times, it doesn’t have adequate water as 14 hydel power projects have come up on the river in Sikkim, because of which the water is withheld upstream. Why didn’t the Centre act when these projects were coming up?” she asked, expressing her apprehension that the sharing of the Teesta’s waters with Bangladesh could affect the water supply in north Bengal.

“People in north Bengal will not get drinking water,” the chief minister added.

Mamata’s assertion came on a day Hasina reached China on a four-day bilateral visit. The visit is significant as China has offered to develop infrastructure on the Teesta in Bangladesh to improve irrigation and ancillary facilities by using the river’s water.

In the course of the meeting at Nabanna, Mamata expressed concerns over the damage caused to hilly highways, especially NH10 which connects Sikkim and Kalimpong with the rest of the country. A stretch of NH10 has been closed for around eight days as there have been landslides and cave-ins at multiple locations.

“It is an important highway and the administration should communicate with the Indian army which uses it for transport so that they take the task of repairing and restoring it. The location of states like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh (which sit on the China border) is very vital and roads leading to these places should be repaired immediately,” she said.

Mamata also surfed through the reports sent by officials in north Bengal districts and asked the administration to be on alert in the backdrop of the flood-like situation in the region.

The central government again came in her line of fire as the chief minister referred to an embankment which Bangladesh had built on the Atreyee river with the help of China.

“Because of the embankment which has been built with Chinese help, people in certain areas of South Dinajpur district (through which the river flows) are facing problems in getting drinking water. I have flagged the issue before the Prime Minister several times but nothing has been done so far,” the chief minister said.

DVC water release

The chief minister on Monday asked the irrigation department to get in touch with the Centre to ensure that Delhi carried out dredging on the reservoirs of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) so that they could hold more water and help Bengal get rid of deluge every year.

“If they (the DVC) carry out dredging, they can hold 2 lakh cusecs of water. But they don’t do it. I have been hearing this for the past five-six years. The irrigation department should get in touch with the Centre and tell them that they should conduct a dredging exercise so that Bengal could be saved from deluge every year,” she said.

The chief minister also instructed the officials to develop a mechanism where the DVC would inform the state about the exact quantum of water which would be released from the DVC network.

Additional reporting by
Pranesh Sarkar in Calcutta