• Having resolved the longstanding issue of enclaves during the prime minister’s recent visit to Bangladesh, New Delhi has to focus now on other bilateral issues, the most contentious one being the sharing of Teesta waters.
• In the case of Teesta River, which originates in Sikkim and flows through West Bengal into Bangladesh, settlement has not been arrived at for decades now.

What is the Teesta Issue all about?

• In 2013, an agreement was drafted which allowed for the 50:50 allocation of teesta waters between the countries during the lean season, when the real problems of allocation crop up. However, that was not acceptable.
• India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers between them.
• West Bengal has been opposing the treaty fearing that the loss of higher volume of water to the lower riparian would cause problems in the northern region of state, especially during drier months.
• It is estimated that the Teesta River has a mean annual flow of 60 billion cubic meters but a significant amount of this water flows only during wet season(June-Sept) leaving scant flow during the dry season(October-May) wherein the average flow gets reduced to about 500 million cubic metres (MCM) per month.
• This creates issues of equitable sharing during lean season.
• Bangladesh has claimed that West Bengal’s Gazaldoba barrage is ‘unilaterally’ channelizing a large volume of water on the Teesta, due to which the country’s historic flow has been reduced to only 10% and its Teesta Irrigation Project has suffered.
• This is further compounded by the downstream nature of Bangladesh wherein any construction by India affects the water flow available to Bangladesh.
• Furthermore, there are proposals to build 31 dams in the upper catchment area of the Teesta in Sikkim, along with the 4 dams that are already underway.
• One of the important factors responsible for diminishing flow of water is the building of about 12 hydel power projects over the Teesta in Sikkim where the river originates.

What proposals are made to augment the river flows during the non-monsoon months?

• The deficit in flows can be met by the transfer of water from other water-endowed basins.
• In this connection, the proposals made in the Indian River Linking (IRL) project could be considered.
• The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga (MSTG) link canal is one of the links proposed under the Himalayan component of the IRL.
• It envisages diversion of the surplus waters of the Manas and Sankosh rivers to the Teesta, Ganga and beyond, to meet the requirements of water-deficit areas.
• By making suitable provisions in the link canal, it should be possible to release the required water into the Teesta during the summer to augment river flows, thus meeting the requirements being proposed for water-sharing with Bangladesh.

What is Indian River Linking Project (IRL)?

• The Indian Rivers Inter-link is a proposed large-scale civil engineering project that aims to link India’s rivers by a network of reservoirs and canals and so reduce persistent floods in some parts and water shortages in other parts of India.
• The Inter-link project has been split into three parts:
  1. a northern Himalayan rivers inter-link component
  2. a southern Peninsular component and starting 2005
  3. An intrastate rivers linking component.

What is (MSTG) link canal?

• The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga (MSTG) link canal is one of the links proposed under the Himalayan component of the IRL.
• The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta- Ganga link canal envisages diversion of surplus water of Manas and Sankosh rivers with supplementation from the intermediate major streams for the benefit of augmenting the flows of Ganga at Farakka.
• It aims to further transfer it to water short areas of Krishna, Pennar and Cauvery basins and providing irrigation facilities to the enroute command areas.
• This link will comprise two dams on rivers Manas and Sankosh inside Bhutan territory and a gravity flow canal for diverting substantial quantum of water to river Ganga upstream of Farakka barrage.

How is India working for a permanent solution?

• A possible option considered was that since the regeneration of flow in the river channel between the Gajoldoba and Dalia barrages is about 25 per cent, which would be available at the downstream barrage the additional 25 per cent demanded by Bangladesh could be released by West Bengal from the upstream barrage.
• But the state had its own compulsions for meeting irrigation needs as the summer flows are generally erratic.
• Hence, West Bengal did not want to commit to releasing water from the upstream barrage, at the cost of its major project envisaging the irrigation of 9.22 lakh hectares in the ultimate stage.
• Thus, the water-sharing arrangement got embroiled in domestic hydro-politics, stalling further action to find an acceptable solution to the dispute.

 Way forward:

• Teesta water is an absolute right of Bangladesh, which is recognised by many international instruments and customary international law.
• Earlier, Indo-Pakistan Krishenganga water sharing disputes was settled under the World Bank as a third party.
• Now it is high time for Bangladesh to seek remedy by such kinds of international Organizations and International courts.