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India, Bangladesh sign water-sharing accord
Treaty ends lengthy dispute
December 12, 1996
Web posted at: 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT)From New Delhi Bureau Chief Anita Pratap
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India and Bangladesh signed a treaty Thursday to share the water of the Ganges River, ending a dispute that had been a major irritant between the two nations for two decades.
The treaty ends India's arbitrary control of the flow of one of Bangladesh's main water arteries during five dry months, when 40 million Bangladesh farmers rely on the Ganges to avoid drought.
The 30-year agreement, to be reviewed every five years, was signed in New Delhi by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart H.D. Deve Gowda.
Both leaders called the pact a historic event, which they said would usher in a new era of bilateral relations.
India dam controls Ganges flow
India controls the Ganges' flow through a dam completed in 1974 at Farakka, 10 miles (18 km) from the Bangladesh border.
When a 1977 agreement giving Bangladesh two-thirds of the Ganges water expired 11 years later, the country's share was reduced to one-third. India diverted the additional water to Calcutta to prevent that commercially vital port on a Ganges tributary from clogging with silt.
While the dam solved Calcutta's problems, it created new ones for Bangladesh. The drastically reduced water flow created ecological problems and turned parts of Bangladesh into a wasteland.
Under the accord, the two countries will alternately receive a lopsided share of the shrunken Ganges from mid-March to May -- the driest period -- which will provide enough water to flush the port of Calcutta every 10 days.
The new treaty -- a symbol of renewed trust and friendship between India and Bangladesh -- comes on the 25th anniversary of the 1971 war in Pakistan that led to the birth of Bangladesh.
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