The 38th Meeting of Ministerial level Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi on 25th August, 2022. The Indian delegation was led by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Jal Shakti. The Bangladesh delegation was led by Mr. Zaheed Farooque, State Minister for Water Resources.
Key highlights
- The discussions during this bilateral meeting were held on a number of ongoing bilateral issues of mutual interest including river water sharing of common rivers, sharing of flood data, addressing river pollution, conducting joint studies on sedimentation management, river bank protection works etc.
- Both sides finalized the text of MoU on Interim Water Sharing of Kushiyara river.
- Both sides also welcomed finalization of the design and location of water intake point on the Feni River to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura as per the October 2019 India -Bangladesh MoU on this subject.
- One of the important areas of cooperation, where India has been assisting Bangladesh, is sharing of real time flood data. India has recently extended the period of flood data sharing beyond 15th October to help Bangladesh address unforeseen flood events.
- India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which 7 rivers have been identified earlier for developing framework of water sharing agreements on priority. During the meeting, it has been agreed to widen this area of ongoing cooperation by including 8 more rivers for data exchange. The matter will be further discussed at the Technical Level Committee of JRC.
- The Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was constituted in the year 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of mutual interest on common / border / transboundary rivers.
- As per Bangladesh, the JRC meeting, held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere, discussed the whole gamut of the issues related to the common rivers between the two countries, especially the Ganga, Teesta, Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla, Dudkhkumar and Kushiyara .
- The Kushiyara River is a distributary river in Bangladesh and Assam, India. It forms on the India-Bangladesh border as a branch of the Barak River, when the Barak separates into the Kushiyara and Surma.
