West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 29 affirmed that her state will oppose any kind of agreement between India-Bangladesh on the Teesta River, as sharing of Teesta water will mean “depriving north Bengal of water.”
Opposing the Teesta Water Treaty while addressing the legislative assembly, Mamata Banerjee said, “My Government will oppose any agreement between India and Bangladesh over sharing of the Teesta river water, as sharing of Teesta water will mean depriving north Bengal of water.”
During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed that India would help the neighbouring country in the conservation and management of the transboundary river. The proposal is part of India’s hydro diplomacy with Bangladesh, which has been waiting for a deal on sharing of Teesta water since 2011 when Mamata put a spanner on it.
Addressing the State Legislative Assembly, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “They are trying to divide Bengal. We will never accept this. We will protest against this, the people of Bengal will protest against this. I’m elected by the people of Bengal; this is my liability to take care of state.”
Taking it further, she said, “It’s a shame, I condemn the proposal of North Bengal divide. BJP MLAs actually don’t have the guts to face the reality of situation, they always walkout and do politics with state. They are media concerned and nothing else.”
This statement comes after BJP’s West Bengal State President Sukanta Majumdar wrote a letter to PM Modi demanding the incorporation of north Bengal with northeastern India.
Hitting out at the BJP’s Nishikant Dubey’s statement of declaring Malda and Murshidabad as Union Territory, Mamata Banerjee stated, “BJP is trying to defame Bengal. After winning, they are talking about dividing Bengal. Someone is saying to divide north Bengal from the West Bengal while others are saying to make Malda and Murshidabad a Union Territory.”
She further informed about her proposal for the Indo-Bhutan River Commission in the NITI Aayog Meeting and demanded its formation.
“In the NITI Aayog meeting, I proposed the Indo-Bhutan river commission formation issue. I recorded this issue in the meeting, as Bengal suffers from it. There are flood issues. Also, I direct the state government officials to go and meet irrigation department and finance department and solve out the issue. During rainy season, North Bengal faced flood situation. I also proposed to the Speaker, he should send assembly representative to central government to raise this issue.”
Speaking on the budget allocation for floods states like Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, etc, Banerjee asserted, “Salute to the BJP government for this discrimination, Assam and Bihar gets the funds for floods deprivation, but we don’t.”
Earlier, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech in Lok Sabha, said, “Bihar has frequently suffered from floods, many of them originating outside the country. Plans to build flood control structures in Nepal are yet to progress. Our Government, through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program and other sources, will provide financial support for projects with an estimated cost of Rs 11,500 crores such as the Kosi-Mechi intra-state link and 20 other ongoing and new schemes including barrages, river pollution abatement, and irrigation projects.”
