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Upended by U-turn

Pinaki Roy
The postponement of the Teesta water-sharing deal has rendered the Indian prime minister's much-anticipated visit to Dhaka a damp squib.
The deal, which was expected to be the mainstay of Manmohan's trip, fell through after Paschimbanga (West Bengal) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee objected to it at the last minute.
The setback puts a dark shadow over the prospect of warmer Indo-Bangla ties, which experts on both sides believed would reach new heights with the signing of treaties on the Teesta and Feni water sharing.
It leaves big question marks hanging on the fate of the water-starved northern districts in Bangladesh.
New Delhi's about-face on the Teesta deal, envisaged in the joint communique issued during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in January last year, comes as a blow to the Awami League-led government, which the opponents allege is conceding too much to the neighbouring country.
Visibly irate that the Teesta deal did not come off, Dhaka has opted not to sign the 'Letters of Consent' that India needs to use Chittagong and Mongla ports. Besides, it seems to have made giving transit to India conditional on getting fair share of theTeesta water.
Also in the fallout from the debacle, the agreement on the Feni water sharing has been called off.
The Feni is important to India as it supplies drinking water (treated) to its localities from this river with the consent of Bangladesh.
India has 14 irrigation projects that depend on the Feni. In 2003, it stopped withdrawing water from the river after objections from Bangladesh. This led to adverse impact on irrigation on the Indian side, reported Down to Earth, an Indian fortnightly on environment.
Water resources experts say New Delhi's tendency to hold back water of the common rivers goes against the “no-harm principle” enshrined in the UN Watercourses Convention 1997, a global legal framework that establishes basic standards and rules regarding the use and conservation of all waters that cross international boundaries.
The Indian practice of withdrawing water has long been contributing to degradation of riverine ecosystems in Bangladesh.
For want of water, farmers in the northern districts have taken to growing tobacco, which poses serious hazard to human health and environment. Cultivating tobacco instead of rice also affects food production.
Bangladesh needs the Teesta water most during the dry season—December to March. At times, water flow comes down to less than 1,000 cusecs from 5,000
cusecs as India shuts all gates of its Gajaldoba barrage in the upstream to store water, said agriculture officials.
Besides Gajaldoba, India is implementing a hydroelectric project spread over eight sites along the Teesta from north Sikkim to Sevoke in West Bengal.
It all stands to worsen the drought-like situation in Bangladesh's northern region. Over 750,000 hectares of farmland in the foodsurplus Rangpur Division is dependent on the Teesta for supplementary irrigation.
Out of the 54 common rivers between them, Bangladesh and India have water-sharing agreement only on the Ganges.