BANGLADESH

Bangladesh has extended the water transit protocol with India for a year and now considering a long-term deal on the issue, said shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader on Monday.

"The trade treaty with India has been extended for three years on Mar 29. Under this the water transit protocol has been renewed for a year," the shipping secretary told reporters at the shipping ministry on Monday.

He said the renewal was made effective from Apr 1.

The trade treaty signed in 1972 with provision for renewal after three years was expired on Mar 31.

The water transit protocol was first signed in 1980 under a bilateral trade agreement which facilitated 'mutually beneficial arrangements' for the use of the waterways for commerce.

Shipping secretary said India wanted to renew the water transit protocol for three years in line with the bilateral trade treaty.

"The two countries will hold a meeting on the issue soon. If the outcome is positive there is a possibility of a long-term protocol renewal," he added.

Under the protocol, India uses Bangladesh's internal river routes for transporting goods from western part to its eastern states.

At present, Bangladesh receives Tk 55 million a year in fees from India under the protocol. "There is a possibility the fee will increase in future," shipping secretary said.

Mentioning that Bangladesh's cement industry would have faced problems if the protocol was not renewed, Hawlader said, "Local cement factories import almost 80 percent of its raw material from India through river routes."

Earlier in the day, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran paid a courtesy call on shipping minister Shajahan Khan at his office.

Asked about the meeting, Hawlader said they discussed bilateral issues.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has complained to Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh that 80 per cent of the water from the Farakka Barrage goes to Bangladesh.

India's private television channel NDTV reported the interaction based on a letter the Trinamool chief sent to Singh.

Quoting a government official the report said, "Bangladesh was to get 35,000 cusecs during the dry season as per the water agreement between the two countries but was getting 82,801 cusecs due to the drainage of water from the barrage."

"The excess outflow of water from Farakka barrage through two damaged sluice gates has reduced its water level by three metres and is posing a threat of erosion at Jangipur area of Murshidabad district."

''The water level at the barrage, which should remain 21.90 metres has come down by three metres as gate numbers 13 and 16 have broken down,'' hydrologist Kalyan Rudra said.

The Ganges water-sharing agreement was struck with India during Awami League's tenure in 1996. A deal over sharing Teesta river's water was to be struck during Manmohan Singh's trip to Bangladesh last September, but the signing was stalled due to opposition from Mamata.

Scheduled to accompany the Indian prime minister on the tour, the West Bengal chief minister pulled out at the last moment saying that the amount of water to be given to Bangladesh was not disclosed to her earlier.

Head of the state government's experts' body studying the Teesta water-sharing issue, Rudra pointed out to the television channel that the excess outflow was causing scarcity of water at NTPC's Farakka plant as the feeder canals were also running out of water.

The barrage, commissioned in 1975, has 109 sluice gates, he said pointing out their annual maintenance was not carried out properly.

Mamata has been taking 'strong' stances against the Indian central government recently. She last declined to attend a function in her state that was inaugurated by central government's home minister P Chidambaram on Friday.

Her snub came a day after she lodged her protests against the home minister's new counter terrorism body - National Counter Terrorism Centre – a brain child of Chidambaram.