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Need for regional meet to resolve water sharing issue underscored

JRC meet has not been held for ages due to lack of initiative from India: Hafiz Unexpected uproar is going on in Bangladesh about River Linking Project: Veena Sikri

BDNEWS, Dhaka
Speakers at a meeting in the city yesterday stressed the need for regional meeting to resolve the problem of sharing water of the international rivers.
Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BUSS) organised the meeting titled ’Significance of Strategic Water Sharing in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basin'.
BUSS Chairman Dr Mufleh R Osmani chaired the meeting while Water Resources Minister Major (Retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed was present as the chief guest.
IUCN Bangladesh representa-
tive Dr Ainun Nishat presented a paper on "Water sharing between Bangladesh and India" while Prof of the Asia Pacific Centre for Security of the USA Robert G Wirsing on 'Bangladesh-India Water Diplomacy: American Perspective' and former ambassador Afsarul Kader on 'River Linking Project'.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri, Dr Hasna Moudud, former ambassador ZM Zahir and Touhldul Anwar participated in the discussion.
Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said Bangladesh-India Joint River Commission decided to hold meeting four times in the first year and twice a year later. But it is sad
that the meeting has not been held for ages due to lack of initiative from Indian side.
He said, "I hope India would take the initiative to hold meeting of Joint River Commission taking human and environmental aspects into consideration," adding, "Bangladesh is eager to hold both bilateral and regional meeting with Nepal, Bhutan, China and other countries through which the common rivers flow."
Dr Ainun Nishat said, there is a gap between political and technical initiatives to resolve water problem. Sometimes technical initiative cannot move ahead due to lackof political initiative.
Veena Sikri said the River
Linking Project is still at its conceptual stage. Unexpected uproar is going on in Bangladesh about the project. The project has been taken up for the people of Southern India. Bangladesh will not be affected due to rhe project.
She added, water is not Bangladesh's problem; the problem lies with its mismanagement. Water crisis emerges out of rivers' drying up due to siltation, lack of dredging, and incapacity of retaining water during monsoon. According to her, the problem of water sharing can be resolved through bilateral discussions, not regional meeting.