Indo-Bangla technical teams meet in Kolkata ahead of Ganga Water Treaty renewal talks

Kolkata: A meeting of the technical teams of the Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh began in Kolkata on Thursday on the Ganga Water Treaty, which is due for renewal in 2026, an official said.

The Bangladeshi delegation of the Joint Rivers Commission reached Kolkata on Monday morning and immediately left for the joint observation site on the Ganges at Farakka.

Members of the commission were at Farakka till March 5.

“The meeting between the Indian and Bangladeshi technical teams began this morning. The Bangladesh delegation is led by Muhammad Abul Hossen, a member of the joint rivers commission,” said a senior official of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission here.

According to West Bengal government officials, the Joint Rivers Commission, which includes members from the governments of India, Bangladesh and West Bengal, meets once a year to discuss issues regarding the cross-boundary rivers.

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 in Kolkata on March 6 and 7.

The Bangladesh delegation recently visited the Farakka Barrage to assess the flow of Ganges water and its downstream movement into Bangladesh. The timing of this visit is critical because the Ganges river experiences a lean flow of water between January and May.

After the visit, Hossen remarked that the water flow in January was "good" but it "decreased" in February.

He noted that water-sharing is being conducted according to the 1996 treaty between India and Bangladesh.

At Farakka, the two sides reportedly exchanged data about the Ganges water flow over the past five months.

In addition to their two-day discussions with Indian officials, the Bangladeshi delegation is scheduled to meet with Manish Jain, the West Bengal irrigation department secretary, on March 7.

The Ganges water-sharing agreement is particularly significant for West Bengal, as the water diverted from the Farakka Barrage is essential for the livelihoods of those living along the riverbanks and for maintaining the navigability of the Kolkata port.

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 Water 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.