The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has no plans to constitute a joint river commission with Bhutan to monitor the rivers which descend from the neighbouring country and flow into north Bengal and Assam, a demand that has been time and again flagged by chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her government.
On Monday, C R Paatil, the Union minister of Jal Shakti, mentioned in the Parliament that the central government has no such plans and that it intends to go ahead with the joint teams and groups which have been formed for flood management and forecasting of floods caused by the rivers which enter 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, especially in the districts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, around 72 rivers and streams, including some prominent rivers like the Jaldhaka, the Torsha, the Raidak and the Sankosh, descend from Bhutan. Every year, during the monsoons, these rivers spill over the banks, particularly if it rains in the upper catchments of these rivers 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 of Alipurduar who has defected to TMC, had brought the issue to the notice of the chief minister. In July, a resolution was passed in the Assembly in support of constituting 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 such insistence from the state’s side, the central government has made it clear that it does not have any such plan.
In the reply, Paatil said that since 1992, a Joint Experts Team (JET) comprising representatives of both countries has been working on flood management.
Also, in 2004, a Joint Group of Experts (JGE) was formed to discuss and assess the probable causes and effects of recurring floods and erosion in the southern parts of Bhutan and the adjoining plains of India and make recommendations for remedial measures mutually accepted by both countries.
The Union minister has also pointed out that there are 36 hydro-meteorological stations in Bhutan at the catchments of the trans-border rivers, and the central water commission gets regular data for flood forecasting.