Mamata Banerjee’s opposition to water sharing appears to be the biggest stumbling block to reaching an agreement on the Teesta River, while Bangladesh and India have been negotiating the elusive deal for close to two decades now. “… We can think of a Torsa water sharing formula and requested the Centre and the Bangladesh government … to find ways on how to share the Torsa River water,” news18.com quoted her as saying. Earlier, the adamant West Bengal chief minister had put a veto on the Teesta deal in September 2011, when the then India prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka. Mamata had also made her mind clear to Modi that she could not affect the interest of West Bengal while sharing the Teesta water, as it is the main lifeline in north Bengal. Teesta water is crucial for Bangladesh, especially in the lean period from December to March when water flow temporarily comes down to less than 1,000 cusecs from 5,000 cusecs.

Source: Dhaka Tribune April 09, 2017 20:15 UTC