NEW DELHI, Aug 26 (NNN-PTI) – India and Bangladesh held a joint ministerial-level meeting, to discuss river water sharing between the two sides, officials said today.
The two sides met yesterday in New Delhi, after a gap of 12 years, for the 38th Meeting of Ministerial Level Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh.
The meeting focused on issues including river water sharing, flood data sharing, addressing river pollution, conducting joint studies on sedimentation management, and river bank protection works, officials said.
“Both sides finalised the text of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on interim water sharing of the Kushiyara river. Both sides also welcomed the finalisation of the design and location of the water intake point, on the Feni river, to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura, as per the Oct, 2019, India-Bangladesh MoU on this subject,” said a statement issued by India’s water resources ministry.
According to India’s water resources ministry, India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which seven have been identified earlier for developing a framework of water sharing agreements.
“During the meeting, it had been agreed to widen this area of ongoing cooperation, by including eight more rivers for data exchange,” the ministry said.
The Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was constituted in 1972, as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of mutual interest, on the common border and transboundary rivers.– NNN-PTI
