On 25 August 2022, the 38th meeting of the India–Bangladesh Ministerial-level Joint River Commission was held in New Delhi. The Indian delegation was led by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Jal Shakti. The Bangladeshi delegation was led by Mr. Zaheed Farooque, Minister of State for Water Resources. Mr. AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem, Deputy Minister for Water Resources was also part of the Bangladesh delegation. The meeting takes on significance as it took place after a long gap of 12 years, although technical interactions within the JRC continued in the interim. The meeting was preceded by an interaction at the level of Minister for Water Resources on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
The discussion during this bilateral meeting was on a number of ongoing bilateral issues of common concern, including sharing of river water in common rivers, sharing of flood data, tackling river pollution, conducting joint studies on sedimentation management, riverbank protection works, etc. Both sides finalized the text memoranda of understanding on interim water sharing in the Kushiyara River. The two sides also welcomed the completion of the design and location of a water abstraction point on the Feni River to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura as per the India-Bangladesh Memorandum of Understanding dated October 2019 on the subject.
One important area of cooperation where India is helping Bangladesh is sharing real-time flood data. India recently extended the flood data sharing period beyond October 15 to help Bangladesh deal with unforeseen floods. India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which 7 rivers were earlier identified for the framework of priority water sharing agreements. During the meeting, it was agreed to expand this area of ongoing cooperation by 8 more rivers for data exchange. The matter will be further discussed at the SVS technical level committee.The India-Bangladesh Joint River Commission was established in 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of common concern on shared/boundary/transboundary rivers.
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