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It was a fitting tribute to the special quality of relations between the two neighbours and the
spirit of brotherhood would lead to a new era.
Other Reactions
Atal Behari Vajpayee, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha (a former Foreign
Minister and future Prime Minister), welcoming the Treaty said 'I hope that the
national interests of both countries have been safeguarded'. Jyoti Basu, Chief
Minister of West Bengal, who was the architect of the Treaty, said:
The pact which has benefited us and will no doubt benefit Bangladesh would not be without
its rewards. To our advantage, the option of the use of Chittagong port by our industrialists
has opened up, significantly so, in the context of the State's plans for industrial rejuvenation.
No longer will we be in a state of uncertainty over the quantum of water from Farakka.
...
The guarantees (on the allocation of the Ganga water), provided for the first time in such an
agreement, should resolve outstanding problems. We too had our experts and those from the
Centre when the pact was finalized. For the first time, India had been assured of a minimum
of 40,000 cusecs of the Ganga waters in seven of 15 ten-day periods during the loan season.
Only once had the State enjoyed this privilege in the past 40 years.
Mr. Basu was particularly hopeful about the proposed Sankosh project in Bhutan,
aimed at providing additional 12,000 cusecs of water daily to West Bengal. The
project was to be included in India's Ninth Five-Year Plan. He regretted that though
a committee of the Chief Ministers of three upper riparian States - Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and West Bengal - was set up during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure to co-ordinate the
Ganga's flow, ongoing pilferage by farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar reduced the
quantum reaching West Bengal.
A. B. A. Gani Khan Chaudhury, the Congress MP from Malda and a former
Water Resources Minister in Government of India was the first to criticize the Treaty.
It is an unrealistic Treaty. It has not only damaged the interests of Calcutta Port, but could
also worsen bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh in future. Calcutta Port Trust
will be badly affected, because it needs at least 40,000 cusecs of water to remain operational.
Who will measure the quantum of water required to wash out the silt, deposited in the
Hooghly basin? Now that the accord has been signed, its (Bangladesh's) representatives in
the joint monitoring committee will always blame us of using more water.
Some Calcutta Port Trust officials complained:
The Port's interests have been badly compromised. They will have to think of a deep draught
port, well below Haldia, for the survival of Calcutta Port.
The gloom in the port and shipping circles in India was largely because of the
clauses of water-sharing. They felt that the sharing on the basis of 10-day peri-
ods, especially in the acute lean-season, between March and April, would aggravate
rather than halt the progressive silting of the Hooghly and reduce its navigability.
In the two cycles of 10-day periods in the crucial month of April, Calcutta port area will
get from the Farakka Barrage between 25,000 and 28,000 cusecs, which is too low a head-
water flow to flush out silt to the sea. The agreement in no way reverses the process of
deterioration of the Hooghly. Heavy siltation will increase the intensity and frequency of
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