West Bengal not fully on board on water sharing, but Delhi and Dhaka to press ahead with ties

The West Bengal government is not yet fully on board on sharing of Teesta waters with Bangladesh, a senior official said on Thursday.

Officials said India remained committed to dialogue on Teesta with Bangladesh, but indicated that the high point of the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from April 7 to 10 is likely to be defence and security agreements.

“There is still some degree of doubt that has been expressed by the State government on what will be the implications of such an accord on the people of West Bengal, and until that is resolved, this [negotiation on the agreement] remains a challenge that we have not yet reached a closure on,” said Sripriya Ranganathan, Joint Secretary in charge of Bangladesh in the External Affairs Ministry.

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Talks with Mamata

The official said Prime Minister Hasina was likely to hold talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a special reception to be hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee at which the Chief Ministers of other States bordering Bangladesh have also been invited.

The outcome of the meeting between Ms. Banerjee and Ms. Hasina, however, remains unclear.

“I will sidestep this question for now,” said Ms. Ranganathan when asked to spell out if the deal could be achieved during the visit, explaining that India would not dilute its commitment to finalising the interim agreement signed on sharing of the river water.

“The Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] during his visit to Dhaka last year … conveyed that India is a federal structure and we need to have the full and unstinted support of the State government [while concluding the treaty], and that is the portion that is the work in progress,” she said.

The visit, which is expected to see 20 government-level agreements, is likely to be dominated by the bilateral defence pacts, which will address Bangladesh’s needs.

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Twin MoUs

“We do intend to sign two MoUs during the coming visit. One is a framework MoU on defence engagement that provides a structure for cooperation. It is a typical MoU for a period of five years subject to renewal in automatic mode, that will provide a way for bilateral ties to go forward on R&D, defence supplies,” Ms. Ranganathan said.

A second agreement for $500 million will also be concluded to assist Bangladesh to source some of its military-grade equipment from India.

A special memorandum of understanding on training of Bangladesh military personnel is also included on the agenda.

The official also said that India’s support for the Ruppur nuclear power project of Bangladesh and joint efforts to counter radicalism in Bangladesh would be other key areas during the bilateral talks that would be held on Saturday.

“Extent of cooperation [on anti-IS agenda] is going ahead very well. But we hope to sign a cybersecurity agreement during the visit,” she said.

India will also conclude a framework agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with Bangladesh.

Line of credit

The visit is also likely to witness an agreement on a line of credit with Bangladesh that officials said would be “substantial”.

The Hindu had earlier reported that the line of credit would be to the tune of $ 5 billion.