Bangladesh has expressed concern over low water flow in the trans-boundary river Ganges.
鈥楾he joint technical committee found that although Bangladesh got share of Ganges water as per a treaty with India, the flow of water was low. So, we expressed concern in a recent meeting in India,鈥� foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Rafiqul Alam told the weekly media briefing at the ministry in the capital Dhaka on Thursday.
He said that the technical committee should work out modalities in case of the low water flow in the Ganges, flowing down through Bangladesh as the River Padma.聽
The joint team collects data from January to May every year as per the treaty to measure water flow and determine whether each country is getting its due water share, he added.
The issue was discussed when officials of Bangladesh and India held the 86th meeting of the Joint Rivers鈥� Commission鈥檚 joint committee in Kolkata of West Bengal in India in March 6-7.
The technical level meeting was held on March 7, the foreign ministry official said.
Earlier in February, Dhaka raised the issue of renewal of the 30-year Ganges water sharing treaty with New Delhi as Bangladesh foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain and Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar held a meeting on the sidelines of a conference in Muscat in Oman as the 30-year deal between the two neighbours is set to expire in 2026.
India has long been withdrawing water upstream as the two countries share 54 rivers, adversely affecting the lower riparian Bangladesh.
Asked about New Delhi鈥檚 response to Dhaka鈥檚 request for the extradition of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the foreign ministry spokesperson said that they did not get any response as yet.
He earlier said that they had sent all necessary documents with the letter requesting the Indian government to extradite Sheikh Hasina who fled to India for shelter on August 5, 2024 amid a student-led mass uprising.
On December 23, 2024, the foreign ministry sent a note verbale to its Indian counterpart, requesting the extradition of Sheikh Hasina who is facing an International Crimes Tribunal warrant for her arrest on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the July-August mass uprising along with scores of murder cases.
Amid rising demands for extradition of the ousted prime minister for trial, the foreign ministry requested its Indian counterpart to send her back.
Hasina, also the Awami League president, has been staying in India since the mass uprising ousting her 15-year autocratic regime on August 5, 2024.
The regime ouster led to the formation of the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus on August 8.