INDIA which has since 2010 put on hold the signing of an agreement on the sharing of the water of the River Teesta has now offered to finance a large-scale project of Bangladesh for the comprehensive management and the restoration of the river in which China has already showed interest and carried out a survey. The absence of an agreement on the sharing of the Teesta water leaves five districts in Bangladesh鈥檚 north 鈥� Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Rangpur through which the river flows 鈥� dry in the lean season because of the unilateral withdrawal of water upstream by India and leaves the region frequently inundated in the monsoon season as India opens all floodgates, often without any intimation. India backtracked on the signing of the agreement hours before India鈥檚 prime minister arrived in Dhaka on September 6, 2011 after it had been finalised in 2010 with two sides agreeing a 50:50 sharing formula provisioning for 20 per cent of the water as the environmental flow. Experts have for long sounded warning that all this has added to risks of desertification of Bangladesh鈥檚 north. India鈥檚 external affairs secretary, who arrived in Dhaka on a two-day visit on May 8, conveyed New Delhi鈥檚 willingness to finance the development on the cross-border Teesta when he called on Bangladesh鈥檚 foreign minister.
China, considered one of the biggest development partners of Bangladesh, completed a survey on the river in 2019 and is reported to have sent a revised proposal, as China鈥檚 ambassador said in Dhaka on December 21, 2023, to Bangladesh, lowering the project costs. China鈥檚 ambassador also visited the Teesta Barrage in Lalmonirhat in 2022. The Foreign Office spokesperson, in such a situation, says that Dhaka would consider geopolitical implications of the project in case New Delhi raised a dispute against China鈥檚 proposal for the Teesta development project. Some experts say that they had doubted whether China could finally get involved in the project on a location so sensitive to India. Many believe that even if India could counter China in the project, it would reach the same fate as other projects under India鈥檚 line of credit have done. Almost no no such project has progressed at the desired pace. Dhaka should not, therefore, entertain such a proposal of New Delhi for financing the project for the development of the River Teesta that is meant to improve the socio-economic condition in Bangladesh鈥檚 north by, among others, setting up economic growth points along both the banks, preventing flood, dredging the river bed and constructing dams and reservoirs in the catchment area because such a deplorable situation has resulted mainly from India鈥檚 putting on hold the Teesta water sharing agreement.
India having been at the heart of the problem of the life and livelihood that have for long been stake around the River Teesta and the region, this is no wise that India should have any contribution to the project meant to stem the decline caused by India鈥檚 unilateral withdrawal and sudden release of the water of the river upstream. Dhaka must, rather, take up the water sharing agreement signing issue with New Delhi more boldly.