Why in news?

• The Union Cabinet has approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Bangladesh.
• The MoU was on the withdrawal of 1.82 cusecs of water from the Feni river by India for a drinking water supply scheme for Sabroom town in Tripura.

What is the dispute over the Feni river?

• The Feni river forms part of the India-Bangladesh border.
• It originates in the South Tripura district.
• The river passes through Sabroom town on the Indian side, and meets the Bay of Bengal after it flows into Bangladesh.
• According to the Indian government, there has been no water-sharing agreement between the countries on the Feni previously.
• The dispute over the sharing of the river water has been long-standing.
• It was taken up between India and Pakistan (before the independence of Bangladesh) in 1958 during a Secretary-level meeting in New Delhi.
• According to the Bangladeshi reports, water has long been drawn from the Feni river through small pumps on the Indian side.

What is the approval for?

• In August 2019, India and Bangladesh held a water secretary-level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) in Dhaka.
• There, it was agreed to collect data and prepare water-sharing agreements for seven rivers.

• These are Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla, Dudhkumar, and Feni.
• In this regard, an MoU was signed between the two countries during Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India.
• The Cabinet approval now on this is ex-post facto, or having retrospective effect.

What is the significance of the MoU?

• The present supply of drinking water to Sabroom town on the southern tip of Tripura is inadequate.
• The groundwater in this region has high iron content.
• Given this, the MoU terms would benefit Sabroom town.

• Implementation of the water supply scheme would benefit a population of over 7000 there.

• Other projects on the Feni - In Tripura, a 150-metre long, 4-lane bridge across the Feni is being built between India and Bangladesh.
• It is expected to be completed by March 2020 at an estimated expenditure of Rs 73 crore.
• Once ready, it would connect Tripura with Chittagong port in Bangladesh, which is only 70 km away from the Indo-Bangla border.
• It would also play an important role in the proposed economic corridor through India, Bangladesh, China and Myanmar.
• Sabroom is expected to transform into the largest transit hub in the Northeast after the bridge is ready.