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ii) A body be constituted, consisting of one representative each of the two countries
to ensure delivery of agreed supplies at Farakka; and
iii) A meeting be held in three to six months at a level, to be agreed to by the two
governments to consider the quantum of water to be supplied to Pakistan at
Farakka and other unresolved issues relating thereto and to the eastern rivers.
It is clear from the above that though there was some advance in the talks,
the main point, relating to the quantum of discharge to be shared between the
two countries at Farakka was not decided. During the period there was a political
change in Pakistan. President Ayub Khan was replaced by General Yahya Khan
on 25th March 1969. The construction of Farakka barrage was under way and
major works of the barrage were almost complete by 1970; the excavation of the
feeder canal was also progressing. The Indian delegation in the fifth Secretary-level
meeting, held in July 1970, complained that the data relevant for taking a deci-
sion on the volume of water which could reasonably be supplied by India out of
the Ganga waters, were not obtained and agreed upon. Thus, no data on the river
Ganga-Padma was available before Independence. Only after 1947, the Pakistan
government started collecting hydrological data on the river but its delegates never
gave to India those relating to water-levels, discharges, flow velocity, salinity, tides,
erosion and sedimentation, channel patterns, bank-line shift, high floods, ground-
water fluctuations, soil characteristics, crop pattern, irrigation needs, wind and wave
characteristics etc. of the Ganga, the Padma, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna as
well as of all their tributaries. In those days, Pakistan was planning to construct
a barrage across the Ganga (the Ganga Barrage Project) in East Pakistan, which
would have back-water effect on the Indian territory, whose details India wanted to
know. It is well-known that there was sufficient regeneration of flow from ground-
water storage, contributions from tributaries etc. between Farakka and the Hardinge
Bridge, for which sufficient records were not available. As the leader of the Indian
team said,
Most important of all, is the unresolved question, how should the Pakistan project be refor-
mulated in order that one may take a decision on the reasonable amount of water which
should be supplied out of the Ganga, keeping in view the overwhelming dependence needs
of Pakistan on surface irrigation in a region which is undoubtedly too wet rather than too dry.
Thus, the question of sharing the Ganga water remained unresolved in spite of
prolonged meetings for years. Apparently, as author B. M. Abbas said, the Kashmir
question was more important to Pakistan than the Farakka problem. India wanted
a step-by-step approach in the discussions to deal with the various problems but
Pakistan insisted on addressing the Kashmir question first. Therefore the Farakka
problem did not get much importance in the discussions, leaving the dispute unre-
solved. Incidentally the demand of water from the Ganga by Pakistan did not remain
fixed in negotiations from 1954 to 1970; it was ever increasing. In 1954 meeting, for
example, the quantum of water demanded was 2,000 cusecs, which rose gradually
to 49,000 cusecs in 1968 in just 14 years. The details figure in Table 9.1.
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