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Teesta, Farakka to top agenda

Mamata meets Manmohan today

Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Sharing of the Teesta water with Bangladesh and two broken sluice gates of the Farakka barrage top the agenda for talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee here today.
Sources said Manmohan would want to know from Mamata her govern-
ment's stance on the proposed Teesta water-sharing treaty. During his visit to Dhaka in September last year, he did not sign the deal in the face of Mamata's strong opposition.
Explaining the reasons for her opposition, the West Bengal chief minister had said the proposed treaty would have adverse impacts on irrigation in the northern part of West Bengal and that there would also be a shortage of drinking water there.
Manmohan has already made it clear that his government prefers a consensus on the Teesta treaty, keeping in mind West Bengal's concerns and interests.
Today, he is expected to convey to Mamata that the water-sharing treaty is crucial to making progress in other key areas of Indian interest like transit and rail, road and waterway connectivity, which would greatly benefit her state as well.
A draft agreement on setting up a rail link between Howrah of West Bengal and Agartala of Tripura through Bangladesh is currently under consideration of Dhaka and New Delhi. It will slash the travel time between the capitals of the two Indian states.
Mamata will argue that her government can firm up its stand on theTeesta issue only after getting the report of a one-man commission it has formed. She will seek to learn from the report how much water West Bengal can release to Bangladesh, especially during the dry season, officials said.
Leading Indian hydrologist Kalyan Rudra, who was supposed to submit the report in December last year, has sought more time to collect data on availability of water in the Teesta round the year. Indications are that the report is unlikely to be ready before April this year.
At the meeting with Manmohan, Mamata will also raise her concerns over the two broken sluice gates of Farakka barrage on the river Ganges and press for immediate repair, said officials.
The West Bengal chief minister claims that because
of the damaged gates, Bangladesh has been getting water much beyond the quantum stipulated in the Ganges water-sharing treatyofl996.
She worries that the excess water flow to Bangladesh will lower the water level of the Bhagirathi river, thus affecting the navigability at Kolkata and Haldia ports.
The broken sluice gates became the latest point of discord between the Mamata-led government and the centre when she alleged that her administration had been kept in the dark about the fact and that there was a "criminal conspiracy" behind it.
The Farakka barrage is maintained by the central government-owned National Thermal Power Corporation, which has to repair the sluice gates.
Besides, Manmohan and Mamata are likely to discuss the treaty on an exchange of adversely possessed enclaves. India and Bangladesh signed the treaty during the Indian prime minister's Dhaka visit last year.
The West Bengal government is unlikely to stand in the way of implementing the agreement. However, the chief minister, according to sources in her "frinamool Congress party, is expected to seek from the prime minister adequate financial assistance for rehabilitation of the enclave people who would opt for change of citizenship and consequent transfer from one country to another under the Indo-Bangladesh agreement.