August 13 (Siliguri Chronicle) – The Narendra Modi government has ruled out forming a joint river commission with Bhutan to monitor rivers flowing from the neighbouring country into north Bengal and Assam. The proposal has been repeatedly pushed by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her government.
On Monday, Union Jal Shakti minister C. R. Paatil told Parliament that there are no such plans. Instead, he said, the Centre will continue working through the existing joint teams and groups set up for flood management and forecasting floods caused by rivers entering India from Bhutan.
“There is no such proposal under consideration to form the Indo-Bhutan River Commission,” Paatil has mentioned in a written reply to a question made in the Rajya Sabha.
In north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts, about 72 rivers and streams flow down from Bhutan, including major ones like the Jaldhaka, Torsha, Raidak and Sankosh. During the monsoon, these rivers often overflow, especially when heavy rain falls in their upper catchment areas in Bhutan.
“The rivers flood and erode tea estates, forests, and human habitats. Also, huge sediments are deposited on the banks of these rivers, which compound the problems in these districts. Unfortunately, the Centre is ignorant of the problem, and it clearly shows its apathetic attitude towards the people dwelling in these districts,” Ritabrata Banerjee, the Rajya Sabha MP of Trinamool, who had raised the question in the Upper House, said over the phone from Delhi on Tuesday.
Last year, Suman Kanjilal, the BJP MLA from Alipurduar who later joined the TMC, raised the issue with the chief minister. In July, the state Assembly passed a resolution supporting the formation of the commission.
Mamata, while attending a meeting of the Niti Aayog in Delhi, had sought immediate steps from the Centre. “A joint river commission with Bhutan will help in mitigating floods, erosion and other damages caused by these rivers,” the chief minister had said.
Despite repeated requests from the state, the Centre has made it clear it has no plans to form the commission.
In his reply, Paatil said a Joint Experts Team (JET) with representatives from both countries has been working on flood management since 1992. He added that in 2004, a Joint Group of Experts (JGE) was set up to study the causes and effects of recurring floods and erosion in southern Bhutan and adjoining plains in India, and to recommend mutually agreed remedial measures.
The Union minister also noted that 36 hydro-meteorological stations operate in Bhutan at the catchments of trans-border rivers, and the Central Water Commission regularly receives their data for flood forecasting.
