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India working to make Bangladesh a desert

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Exposing India and Indians true colors is more like it. India reprieves and represses hundreds of millions of people in Bangladesh and Pakistan by diverting natural river flow and withdrawing water. But as goes with Indian tradition they turn around to blame someone for exposing Indian eco terrorism. This Indian terrorism is bigger than any terror exists in the world today because sheer number of people and their livelihood in Bangladesh and Pakistan are affected.

If anything Indian should ask
Why Indian media and society AT LARGE mute about the subject?

Indians dont like to be exposed of their ugly crime and they have only to blame themself for it, period.
 
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the fact is its india water, if bangladesh cannot sustain a population of 150 million people then guess what? it needs to cut down on the population, you cannot depend on a foreign entity to keep doing you the favour of supplying water to youre entire population of poor little bengalis

Again you are resorting to lie and deception. Here are facts that will expose you to shame or Indian may call it opportunity for more lie and blame someone else.

1) If Bangladesh has 150 million people or 200 million that is not relevant or matter of discussion here.

2) Besides, why Indian diverting water? Isn’t it for supporting its 1100 million and still growing population? Why shouldn’t Bangladesh do the same?????Aren’t you hypocrite the great!!! Look yourself in mirror before you expose yourself.

3) Bangladesh produces most of its food need by producing 30 million tones of grain annyally. And any seasonal shortfall which is fraction of total need meet by import.

4) India diverting natural flow of rivers, withdrawing water, depriving legal share of water, thus India committing eco terrorism. This is not India doing any favor to Bangladesh BUT Bangladesh has rights to common int’l river water as lower riparian country.

5) On economic term Bangladesh is not only capable of supporting its 150 million people and sustain close to 6% GDP growth for last 2 decades but Bangladesh also feed 10 of millions of Indian population by supporting $10 billion/year (official and unofficial indian export) of asymmetric Indian export imposition.
 
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Chinese Dam on Brahmaputra Could Cut Water Supplies in India and Bangladesh

China is preparing to build a dam on the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) that is expected to have twice the hydroelectric output as the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtse. However this dam would be built upstream from populations who depend on the Brahmaputra watershed. One use of the water will be irrigation in the Xinjiang and Gansu portions of the Gobi Desert over 400 miles away. This withdraw along with managing the dam could lead to seasonal or permanent water supply problems for people in India and Bangladesh, who depend heavily on the Brahmaputra waters.

Let see what Munshi has to say about China. They understand the language of Gun too, right Munshi? Are you still there?
 
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Going against the Flow: India, Bangladesh worry China may Divert Water from Tibet

BANGALORE — As China becomes increasingly stressed for water, it comes closer to slaking its thirst with Tibet’s Yalong Tsangpo River, known in India as the Brahmaputra. But international interests downstream worry about the impact on the environment, agriculture and politics.

China currently plans to divert the Yalong Tsangpo as the river bends from Tibet toward India. It intends to use the water for a hydro-electric project, as well as for its population in the dry north and northwest. According to the Asia Times, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao admits the “survival of the Chinese nation” depends on whether it can secure enough water. With a quarter of the country categorized as desert, China considers Tibet a ready solution.

Yet not only China suffers from water scarcity. If the diversion occurs, northeastern India and Bangladesh could access significantly less water from the Brahmaputra — a detriment to their agriculture and an environmental hazard.

At least 47 percent of the population worldwide depends on access to the water flowing from the Tibetan Plateau. “If Beijing goes ahead with the Tsangpo project it would practically mean a declaration of war against South Asia,” India-China watcher Claude Arpi told Asia Times.
 
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River linking in India to cost Bangladesh $30b a year
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

A daylong national workshop, organised by the Bangladesh People’s Initiative against River Linking Project’ on Thursday, dissected the yet ongoing mega Indian project of withdrawing water from the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna basins on the basis of available data and impact studies, and resolved to put up a people to people, people to governments and government and regional opinion bulwark against it.

The workshop that heard water and environmental experts, ministers and policymakers, academics and opinion-builders, was sceptical of some tentative statements by the new Indian government of the likely shelving of the $112–billion project, segments of which are under active implementation of the high-powered Indian Task Force and the relevant planning and the executing outfits.

The Supreme Court of India, under public interest litigation, has already indirectly mandated the project that has been taken up by the Indian government with the wrapping up of the feasibility components by 2005, the drawing-board preparations by 2006 and putting the project on the ground by 2016.

Dr Naser Ejazul Huq of the geology department at Jahangirnagar University, Dr Ain-un-Nishat, water and environment expert now with the IUCN, Dr Asaduzzaman, research director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dr AKM Zahiruddin Chowdhury of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dr Hafiza Khatun of the geography department at Dhaka University, Emaduddin Ahmed of the Institute of Water Modelling, Farhad Mazhar of UBINIG, and Dr Asif Nazrul of the law faculty at Dhaka University, presented their considered data and views on the project.

Upper riparian India intends to control the natural flow of 38 rivers, including the tributaries of three major river systems of lower riparian Bangladesh (Padma, Jamuna and Meghna), by building 30 canals, 74 water reservoirs and several dams, though the project has given rise to widespread protest across the region.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdullah Al Noman and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ziaur Rahman Khan were chief and special guests at the inaugural function that was presided over by New Age and Holiday editor Enayetullah Khan. The workshop was introduced by Syeda Rizwana Hasan on behalf of the BPIRL.

The concluding session where the recommendations of the national workshop were placed by Farida Akhtar of UBINIG for the approval of the delegates after they had discussed the draft threadbare in the late afternoon session was chaired by Engineer Quamrul Islam Siddiqui.

Information Minister Shamsul Islam and Environment Secretary Syed Tanvir Hossain spoke as the chief and the special guests respectively. The intervening sessions were chaired by Dr Atiq Rahman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Mahfuzullah of the Centre for Sustainable Development and Khushi Kabir of Nijera Kari.

“It’s the question of Bangladesh’s survival,” Noman warned, adding the country will have to face desertification if India implements the project. He strongly urged the civil society, the political parties, including main opposition Awami League and the ruling alliance partners, to take a common stand against the project, and also carry the national, regional and international opinion with it.

Ziaur Rahman Khan requested the civil society bodies to keep the parliament and the government informed of all data and developments regarding the project, and thus enable the government to take a position and resolve the issue with the Indian government.

“If only rice output goes down by a million tonnes or just four per cent, 45,000 persons will loss their employment every year, and subsequently the income loss will be nearly Tk 8 billion,” said M Asaduzzaman, adding that the damage will be compounded by the losses in fish, forestry, industry and transport sectors. “Adding losses in other sectors will possibly make the figure four times bigger, i.e. about Tk 30 billion a year,” he said.

“The Gross Domestic Product will be reduced by 1.5 per cent,” he warned. The impacts of the river linking project will result in lower surface water flow that will inhibit the recharging of groundwater and wetlands and create unbearable water crisis. Salinity rise will lead to shrimp and power output loss. Mangrove output will be reduced. “Subsequently costlier irrigation will lower crop output, which will reduce food production and raise inflationary pressure and food insecurity,” the BIDS director said.

The available data and impact studies were marshalled forcefully to give the big picture of what could be a hundred times more devastating than the Farakka Barrage.

http://www.newagebd.com/front.html#4
(archive)
 
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Delhi to revive Tipaimukh hydel project upstream of Meghna Bangladesh and parts of India to face ‘disastrous effects’

SHAHIDUL ISLAM CHOWDHURY

India has revived the controversial Tipaimukh mega hydroelectric project, a multipurpose high dam included, upstream of a major river system of Bangladesh.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Union Ministry of Power, according to the statement of a Union minister, to solve the problems that are delaying the construction of the project in the northeast within a definite timeframe.

Santosh Mohan Dev, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, told reporters at Silchar in Assam, a state in the northeast, early this week that the prime minister’s office had sent a note two weeks ago to the power ministry to expedite the completion of the project.

Meanwhile, the Tipaimukh project has caused huge protest in India and its downstream neighbour Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has officially protested against the project, which, if implemented, will cause economic, ecological and human catastrophes here.

The Tipaimukh plant and its accompanying barrage are set to be built on the river Barak, which bifurcates into two streams as it enters Bangladesh — the rivers Surma and Kushiara.

The mighty Meghna originates at the confluence of the Surma and the Kushiara.

The Indian government’s move followed a request by Santosh Mohan Dev, a Congress stalwart from Silchar, to accelerate steps so that the Rs 5,163 crore multipurpose project, which has been on the drawing board for nearly 40 years, could take off.

The note of the Indian PMO had also stated that the memorandum of understanding on the project between the Union power ministry, on the one hand, and the governments of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram, on the other, should be signed at the earliest possible time.

Besides, it stressed that all statutory clearances from the Central Electricity Authority and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests should be obtained as soon as possible.

The note also mentioned steps for getting approval for the project’s investment plans.

The project works, in six phases, are slated to be completed by 2011.

The impediments to the project are the off-loading of the cost of flood moderation from the project cost, security and diversion of portions of two national highways, which will be submerged when the Tipaimukh dam is raised on the tri-junction of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram to produce 1,500 MW of power.

The North Eastern Electricity Power Corporation (NEEPCO), the implementing agency of the project, calculated that if it bore the expenses for flood moderation, diversion of highways and security, the project would turn out to be uneconomical as its cost of production per unit of power would spiral upwards.

Sources in the NEEPCO said the project’s security cost, necessitated by the extant militancy of the armed separatist groups, would be Rs 400 crore a year.

Earlier, the project was delayed after the Manipur State Assembly had raised objections.

Meanwhile, the residents in the region likely to be displaced and affected otherwise as well, on account of the project, have been staging protests and making representations to their respective state and the Union governments, saying that thousands of people will suffer as the construction of the dam will nearly submerge 73 villages, many sacred sites and cultivable land and violate their inalienable human rights.

http://www.newagebd.com
(archive)
 
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This is to show Indian gun barrel mentality and use of power to Bangladesh rightful claim on Int'l river.

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Bangladesh sends fourth letter for meeting India still not ready for talks on water sharing
Govinda Shil

India is not responding to Bangladesh's proposal to discuss the water sharing of seven rivers, including Teesta as Bangladesh recently sent the fourth letter requesting a meeting in Dhaka.

Researchers and officials say India should sit with Bangladesh to resolve the disputes that sometime turn into political betterness. More than a year has been elapsing since the 35th Joint River Commission meeting was held in New Delhi last September, but India is not still ready for discussing the water-sharing agreements.

India's argument, as many believe, is aimed at buying times depriving Bangladesh of her just share of water. The upstream neighbouring country argues that her catchment area is larger than that of Bangladesh, she has more people and does not have enough water underground. Bangladesh says most of her population depend on rivers and the country's weather, ecology, economy and agriculture mostly depend on those common rivers.

"The Joint River Commission meeting was due since January this year and we are sending letters after letters to the Indian authority. But they are arguing that they need more technical sessions to determine demand and availability of water," said a senior water resources ministry official.

Water experts said Bangladesh should be pleading that common rivers themselves need some environmental flows to keep their health good. This argument has not been raised strongly by Bangladesh though it needs a "very strong point."

"Both Bangladesh and India have signed many UN and International conventions on protecting biodiversity, wetland and swamps. So Bangladesh should strongly place the argument before India to sustain the health of the rivers flowing through this deltaic country," said Dr. Asif Nazrul, a law department teacher at the Dhaka University.

Prof. Sajjadur Rashid, a noted geographer of the DU agreed. He said a river at least needs 25 per cent of her regular flow to maintain her own health, and necessary to help survive fish, birds and other animals and plants depend on or flourish in water.

Prof. Rashid is preparing a research paper to present at an international seminar on India's proposed disputed mega river linking project to be held in Dhaka during 17 to 19 this month.

"I am proposing that all the countries through which these common rivers are flowing should workout modalities to utilise their river resources in a maximum way," Rashid said.

He said Bangladesh so far has talked about having hydro-electricity from Nepal and Bhutan but did not do anything concrete. A transmission line is to be built in Indian territory if Bangladesh purchases power from either Nepal or Bhutan.

Both the water experts strongly feel that Bangladesh should ask for sharing of water of all the common rivers before India starts diversifying water.

"We need to negotiate before any dispute arises and settle our share," Dr. Nazrul said. He pointed out that if Bangladesh reaches agreements with India earlier, she can best study her water management projects.

"We would know how much water we are receiving from Brahmaputra, for example so that we can make our own plan to maximise our gains," he added.

Prof. Rashid said India has been already importing power from Bhutan but Bangladesh did not officially proceed to discuss this with the tiny Himalayan Kingdom.

Nepal is constructing a 4,000 MW hydropower plant on the river Saptokoshi and India would buying energy from that plant. "We all have common stakes in those rivers and we can open negotiations," Prof. Rashid observed.

As per India's request, joint experts' committee meeting would be held in Dhaka next month possibly clearing the way to have a JRC meeting afterward.

http://www.bangladeshobserveronline.com/ne...front.htm#head3
 
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Read the Rules again. No insults, No posts about mods decisions (or lack of them).

I suggest everyone calms down and adhere to the norms of this forum. Any more insults, racist remarks, sarcasm, abuse and the thread will be closed and infractions will follow.
 
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BD deprived of Ganges water as India violates treaty


Govt planning to enter into water sharing agreements for other 53 rivers

Tuesday February 17 2009 01:50:11 AM BDT

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Bangladesh is deprived of proper share in Ganges water as per treaty as India is not providing expected flow of water as required by the agreement signed between two countries in 1996. Article 2(2) of Sharing of the Ganges Waters stipulates that effort will be made by the upper riparian(The Bangladesh Today)

state to protect the flows of water at Farakka as per 40 years of average availability but India is violating this provision.

Talking to The Bangladesh, Dr Ain-un-Nishat said Bangladesh is getting waters of Ganges as found at Farakka point but supply of waters to Farakka point is too little for Bangladesh.

He said "There are three parts in this treaty. Article-1 provides for sharing of water as available at Farakka but my understanding is that allocation to Bangladesh is made based on this provision. But Article-2 (2) stipulates that India will protect the flow at a specified level. Unless this protection mechanism is in operation the residual flow that arrives at Farakka may not be the flow that matches 40 years average condition. In short, the flow distributed has not been protected by India as per provision of the treaty."

Second part of the treaty stipulates that as present level of flow at Farakka is not adequate, it must be augmented. But this aspect of the treaty remains unattended, he alleged.

He said third part of the treaty had proposed agreement on all other common rivers. In my view the government should arrive at sharing arrangement or joint management plan as soon as possible to safeguard the interest of the country.

"Had Bangladesh entered into water sharing agreement with India in 1972/ 1973, it would not be deprived of river waters now. What India is doing now is that it is supplying residual water to Farakka to be shared by Bangladesh as India is either withdrawing water from upper riparian rivers or diverting water flows to other rivers within India by river linking projects," he added.

Water Resources Ministry said total flow reaching at Farakka during the first ten days of February, 2009 was 81,650 cusec which was lower than the 40 years historical average flow of 86,323 cusec as mentioned in treaty. Bangladesh was supposed to get 46, 323 cusec water but it has got actually 41,650 cusec water in first ten days of February. Similarly, Bangladesh is being continuously deprived of its share despite the agreement.

However, ministry sources confirmed that the government led by Awami League is considering entering into fresh agreements with India in respect of remaining 53 joint rivers to share waters from those as well but as to when such water-sharing agreement will be arrived at is entirely uncertain.

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=247461
 
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Dam that may kill the Meghna


construction of Tipaimukh dam in India

773eca6b3c0f8629aa586d1b2b6a76cb._.jpg


Monday February 16 2009 23:52:56 PM BDT

INDIA has reportedly started construction of the Tipaimukh dam on river Barak. This is not in conformity with equitable sharing of water of common rivers and the principle of good neighbourliness. In spite of repeated protests by Bangladesh, India is trying to establish unilateral control on the river with little concern for its downstream neighbour, Bangladesh. The Barak forms an integral part of the Borak-Meghna river system. Just before crossing the border, the Barak divides into the Surma and the Kushiara, which again combine to form the Meghna, the third largest river in Bangladesh.

The ecology, environment and economy of one-third of Bangladesh have developed based on this river system. The Tipaimukh project, a matter of great concern for Bangladesh, will have serious adverse impacts on the country. During the lean period, the area down the Tipaimukh barrage will dry up for lack of minimum flow of water causing serious harm to the flora and fauna of the region with disastrous impacts on the agricultural economy. During the monsoon due to release of excess water down the river flash floods will bring havoc to the life and properties of the people.

The Tipaimukh project has been designed without assessing the likely impacts on the whole river basin including Bangladesh. Information on the project has not been shared with Bangladesh. The proposed dam located on an active seismic zone may prove disastrous for India as well. Water experts all over the world are now for integrated water resources management for the whole length of a river. Minimum flow should be maintained to keep the river itself alive. The dam is being erected at a time when worldwide movement is for dismantling dams that obstruct and destroy natural flow of rivers.
 
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Tipaimukh Dam -www.sinlung.com

The Tipaimukh barrage



Tipaimukh barrage on the Barack river just a kilometer north of Jakiganj in Sylhet

Monday February 16 2009 22:24:09 PM BDT

By Mahmud ur Rahman Choudhury


Three important events have taken place in Bangladesh since I wrote the commentary last Monday. These are: (1) The Indian external affairs minister has visited Bangladesh barely a month after the AL government took office, (2) Student agitations on various issues have again taken a violent and destructive turn and (3) The Indians are going ahead with the construction of the massive Tipaimukh barrage - all of these events collectively impinge on us in more than one ways but the one which directly affects our very ability to survive is the issue of water-sharing of some 53 common rivers between India and Bangladesh. By constructing Tipaimukh and other barrages, India is depriving us of life-giving waters, drastically reducing our ability to survive and therefore this is the issue needing immediate and continued public attention and the subject of this commentary.

India has resumed construction of the Tipaimukh barrage on the Barack river just a kilometer north of Jakiganj in Sylhet; the construction work was stalled in March 2007 in the face of protests within and outside India. The barrage when completed in 2012 is supposed to provide 1500 megawatts of hydel power to the Indian state of Assam but in return its going to bring about a major disaster for Bangladesh, practically contributing to drying up of 350 km long Surma and 110 km long Kushiara rivers which water most of the north-eastern regions of Bangladesh. The Tipaimukh barrage is going to seriously affect not only agriculture in large portions of Bangladesh, particularly in winter, but is also going to bring about negative ecological, climatic and environmental changes of vast areas in both Bangladesh and India.

It's not just this one Indian barrage that is a source of considerable concern and trepidation in Bangladesh; in 1976 India put into operation the Farraka barrage which more or less destroyed the Ganges-Brahamaputra basin, most of which lies in the deltaic plains of Bangladesh and in 1990 India also constructed a barrage along the Teesta river thereby virtually making ineffective much of the Teesta barrage project constructed down-stream in Bangladesh to support irrigation and agriculture in the north-west region of the country. What is even more worrying is that India has evolved plans to divert waters, from the north of the country to its drought-prone southern and eastern states, of some 53 river which flow from India to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh shares a common border with India in the west, north and east and with Myanmar in the southeast. These borders cut across 57 rivers which discharge through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal in the south. The upstream courses of these rivers traverse India, China, Nepal and Bhutan. Trans-boundary flows, which enter Bangladesh from remote catchments extending short distance to thousands of kilometers upstream, are the important source of water resources. Among the trans-boundary rivers, the ones most affected by Indian barrages and their related systems of canals, reservoirs and irrigation schemes are Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna and Teesta. Although the Indian and Bangladeshi governments have a water sharing agreement for the Ganges, there are none for the other 53 rivers that cross the border. With the Tipaimukh barrage now underway, India seems to be going ahead with its mega-project of diverting river waters from its north to its south and east, thereby putting Bangladesh's very survival at stake.

As to how the AL government is going to handle this issue of our survival through water-sharing of common rivers between India and Bangladesh is difficult to say because right now the government is suffering from a sense of complacency and deja vu over "friendship" with India forgetting the fact that India is a state with interests to maintain and that Bangladesh too is a state with equally pressing imperatives to survive as such. India is taking unilateral decisions about matters which affect Bangladesh's core interests and if these cannot be resolved bilaterally, Bangladesh must look at options of going to multilateral forums such as the UN to get its right not only recognized but also implemented. International laws dealing with water-sharing of common rivers and sources are ambiguous, unclear and contentious and so, Bangladesh ought to vigorously pursue these matters, perhaps even garner international support for a change in those laws dealing with water-sharing - this international dimension is a crucial factor affecting the management of the trans-boundary river systems. There is thus, no scope for Bangladesh to be deflected from this core issue of water-sharing notwithstanding Indian deceitful and diversionary insistence and propaganda on "terrorists and transit".

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=247441
 
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BD deprived of Ganges water as India violates treaty

Govt planning to enter into water sharing agreements for other 53 rivers

Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh is deprived of proper share in Ganges water as per treaty as India is not providing expected flow of water as required by the agreement signed between two countries in 1996.

Article 2(2) of Sharing of the Ganges Waters stipulates that effort will be made by the upper riparian state to protect the flows of water at Farakka as per 40 years of average availability but India is violating this provision.
Talking to The Bangladesh, Dr Ain-un-Nishat said Bangladesh is getting waters of Ganges as found at Farakka point but supply of waters to Farakka point is too little for Bangladesh.

He said "There are three parts in this treaty. Article-1 provides for sharing of water as available at Farakka but my understanding is that allocation to Bangladesh is made based on this provision. But Article-2 (2) stipulates that India will protect the flow at a specified level. Unless this protection mechanism is in operation the residual flow that arrives at Farakka may not be the flow that matches 40 years average condition. In short, the flow distributed has not been protected by India as per provision of the treaty."
Second part of the treaty stipulates that as present level of flow at Farakka is not adequate, it must be augmented. But this aspect of the treaty remains unattended, he alleged.

He said third part of the treaty had proposed agreement on all other common rivers. In my view the government should arrive at sharing arrangement or joint management plan as soon as possible to safeguard the interest of the country.

"Had Bangladesh entered into water sharing agreement with India in 1972/ 1973, it would not be deprived of river waters now. What India is doing now is that it is supplying residual water to Farakka to be shared by Bangladesh as India is either withdrawing water from upper riparian rivers or diverting water flows to other rivers within India by river linking projects," he added.
Water Resources Ministry said total flow reaching at Farakka during the first ten days of February, 2009 was 81,650 cusec which was lower than the 40 years historical average flow of 86,323 cusec as mentioned in treaty. Bangladesh was supposed to get 46, 323 cusec water but it has got actually 41,650 cusec water in first ten days of February. Similarly, Bangladesh is being continuously deprived of its share despite the agreement.
However, ministry sources confirmed that the government led by Awami League is considering entering into fresh agreements with India in respect of remaining 53 joint rivers to share waters from those as well but as to when such water-sharing agreement will be arrived at is entirely uncertain.

leading news
 
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