West Bengal govt opposes any agreement on Teesta Water: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 29 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday affirmed that her state will oppose any kind of agreement between India-Bangladesh on the Teesta River, as sharing of Teesta water will mean “depriving north Bengal of water.”

Opposing the Teesta Water Treaty while addressing legislative assembly, Banerjee said, “My government will oppose any agreement between India and Bangladesh over sharing of the Teesta river water, as sharing of Teesta water will mean depriving north Bengal of water.”

She further lashed out at the Centre and stated, “Without consulting West Bengal, they’re doing Teesta Water Treaty. Why they allow 14 Hydro Power Plants on Teesta in Sikkim? I am repeatedly saying that there is not enough water in Teesta River and we can’t supply water to Bangladesh from it. If we will supply water to Bangladesh, then most areas of North Bengal will face water crisis. This is one sided decision.”

Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the BJP leaders for demanding the incorporation of north Bengal to north-eastern states and said we will never let this happen.

Addressing the State Legislative Assembly, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “They are trying to divide Bengal. We will never accept this. We will protest against this, the people of Bengal will protest against this. I’m elected by the people of Bengal; this is my liability to take care of state.”

Taking it further, she said, “It’s a shame, I condemn the proposal of North Bengal divide. BJP MLAs actually don’t have the guts to face the reality of situation, they always walkout and do politics with state. They are media concerned and nothing else.”

This statement comes after BJP’s West Bengal State President Sukanta Majumdar written a letter to PM Modi demanding the incorporation of north Bengal with north eastern India.

Hitting out at the BJP’s Nishikant Dubey’s statement of declaring Malda and Murshidabad as Union Territory, Banerjee stated, “BJP is trying to defame Bengal. After winning, they are talking about dividing Bengal. Someone is saying to divide north Bengal from the West Bengal while others are saying to make Malda and Murshidabad a Union Territory.”

She further informed that about her proposal of Indo-Bhutan river commission in the NITI Aayog Meeting and demanded for its formation.

“In the NITI Aayog meeting, I proposed the Indo-Bhutan river commission formation issue. I recorded this issue in the meeting, as Bengal suffers from it. There are flood issues. Also, I direct the state government officials to go and meet irrigation department and finance department and solve out the issue. During rainy season, North Bengal faced flood situation. I also proposed to the Speaker, he should send assembly representative to central government to raise this issue.”

Speaking on the budget allocation for floods states like Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, etc, Banerjee asserted, “Salute to the BJP government for this discrimination, Assam and Bihar gets the funds for floods deprivation, but we don’t.”

Earlier, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech in Lok Sabha said, “Bihar has frequently suffered from floods, many of them originating outside the country. Plans to build flood control structures in Nepal are yet to progress. Our government, through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program and other sources, will provide financial support for projects with an estimated cost of Rs 11,500 crores such as the Kosi-Mechi intra-state link and 20 other ongoing and new schemes including barrages, river pollution abatement, and irrigation projects.”