THE protests that thousands of people, mostly of Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Rangpur have held are a rightful reaction to India鈥檚 unilateral withdrawal of water of the River Teesta which causes a gradual desertification of Bangladesh鈥檚 north. The people have sat in for two days on the river bank in Lalmonirhat, marched along a four-kilometre stretch and held rallies and cultural performances on 11 locations, demanding a fair share of the water of the cross-border river. India鈥檚 withdrawal of water upstream has already set in the desertification process, which has harmed the life and the living of the people who live along the river. India鈥檚 sudden release of water during the monsoon seasons also causes flash flooding in the region, washing away crops, cattle and houses and leaving a large number of people marooned, without drinking water, food and shelter. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has extended its support, with its ranking leaders having joined in, for the protests that the Teesta River Protection Movement Committee has organised.
India has built at least 30 dams and a barrage upstream the Teesta, never having cared to let Bangladesh know of its obstructing the natural flow of the cross-border river. All these protests are the manifest expression against India, which has high-handedly put on hold the signing of an instrument on the sharing of water of the River Teesta, and six other rivers, which both Delhi and Dhaka agreed on in 2010, in a 50:50 per cent sharing formula, provisioning for a 20 per cent of the water as the environmental flow. Bangladesh and India share at least 54 rivers and India signed an agreement in 1996 only on the water of the River Ganges. India in the middle of 2020 also requested Bangladesh to complete preparations for the signing of the agreement on the water of the River Feni, standing back on its earlier commitment of 2015 to signing both the Teesta and the Feni agreement simultaneously. Such high-handedness of India, manifest in withholding and releasing the water of the River Teesta keeping to its needs and leaving the water sharing agreements of the transboundary rivers on hold, is hardly a sign of a neighbourly attitude.
New Delhi has so far come up with various seemingly illogical excuses in putting off the signing of the agreement on the sharing of the water of the River Teesta. Delhi should realise that a bilateral relation does not work this way. Dhaka should also talk the issues boldly with Delhi to stop the desertification of Bangladesh鈥檚 north and other problems caused by India鈥檚 delay in settling water sharing issues of common rivers, not only the Teesta but also the Feni and six others already referenced.
