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India on Tuesday said any discussion on the renewal of the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty with Bangladesh will be held through the existing bilateral mechanisms, including the Joint Rivers Commission, as the 1996 agreement is set to expire in December 2026.
Addressing the Ministry of External Affairs' bi-weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers and have several technical-level structures that support discussions on water-related issues between the two countries. "There are 54 rivers that are shared between India and Bangladesh, and there is a Joint Rivers Commission, which is a bilateral mechanism, and there are several technical-level structures as well which support discussion between the two sides on water issues, and any discussion on Ganga Water Treaty also will be held as part of the bilateral mechanism that we have in place," Jaiswal said. His remarks came after a parliamentary panel urged the government to initiate the process of renewing the Ganga Water Treaty without delay, ahead of its expiry at the end of this year. Earlier on June 2, India had also said that issues related to the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty would be examined through existing bilateral mechanisms, stressing that river-related matters between the two countries are addressed through structured cooperation. Responding to remarks by a spokesperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who said Dhaka's ties with New Delhi depend on a new Ganges water-sharing agreement, Jaiswal had highlighted the institutional framework established between the two countries. "We have several rivers; in fact, 54 rivers are shared between India and Bangladesh. And we have a Joint Rivers Commission - a structured bilateral mechanism - to deal with issues pertaining to all the rivers that we share between India and Bangladesh," Jaiswal had said. He had further stated, "And the question that you asked, we will also be looking at these issues as part of our structured bilateral collaboration on rivers." The India-Bangladesh Ganga Water Sharing Treaty was signed on December 12, 1996, and is set to expire in December 2026. Water-sharing has remained an important issue in India-Bangladesh ties, with the Teesta river also featuring prominently in bilateral discussions. A proposed water-sharing agreement on the Teesta was not signed amid opposition from the then West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (ANI)
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