Bangladesh has been waiting for nearly two months for India to respond to its proposal for talks on the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, which expires in December.
The foreign ministry in June sent a letter proposing the talks, following the government’s formation of a 10-member technical committee on the Ganges treaty in April.
“We are waiting for India’s response,” Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, the prime minister’s adviser on economic and planning affairs and head of the new committee, told The Daily Star recently.
No meeting date has been set so far, a foreign ministry official said.
Other members of the committee include Ainun Nishat, professor emeritus at BRAC University; Zahed Ur Rahman, the prime minister’s adviser on information; AKM Shahabuddin, water resources secretary; Saimum Parvez, special assistant to the prime minister on environment; and Ataur Rahman, director general of the South Asia desk at the foreign ministry.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman recently met committee members to discuss broader water-sharing issues involving transboundary rivers.
Meanwhile, the government has reconstituted the 12-member Joint Rivers Commission (JRC), which will serve as the channel for the talks, with the water resources minister as chairman, according to a senior official familiar with the development.
“Failure to reach a new arrangement before the [Ganges] treaty expires could erode mutual confidence and further complicate bilateral ties.”
India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, 15th Action Taken Report
What remains unclear, however, is Bangladesh’s negotiating position -- whether it intends to renew the existing treaty, negotiate a new one, or seek a partial or full renegotiation of the current terms.
Several officials at the foreign ministry and the water resources ministry, along with water resources experts involved in the process, declined to comment when approached.
Bangladesh and India share 54 transboundary rivers but have signed only one water-sharing treaty -- the Ganges Water Treaty, which expires on December 11, 30 years after it was signed.
As the treaty contains no automatic renewal clause, the upcoming negotiations carry added significance, especially given that relations between the two countries have become more strained since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024.
Even so, the JRC’s regular protocol meetings have continued as scheduled in 2025 and 2026.
At a JRC meeting in New Delhi in September 2025, Bangladesh expressed its preference for a longer-term treaty to ensure a more predictable flow of water after the current agreement expires, according to a previous The Daily Star report.
After the current government took office in February, a joint JRC technical team held meetings and inspected the Hardinge Bridge point in Bangladesh and the Farakka point in India, with the process continuing through May.
With upstream flow in the Ganges declining over the years, Bangladesh has been considering a barrage to store monsoon water and release it into tributaries during the dry season. The government has since taken up the Tk 34,497 crore Padma Barrage (1st Phase) project to restore major river systems.
Experts say the barrage would help curb salinity intrusion and strengthen irrigation and ecological sustainability across large parts of the country.
Sharif Jamil, coordinator of Waterkeepers Bangladesh, a nongovernmental organisation working to safeguard water bodies, said the government should make serious, coordinated efforts to renew the Ganges Treaty -- not only by focusing on the volume of water at Farakka but also by pushing for equitable sharing across the shared river system.
“I don’t see any sign of in-depth analysis or coordinated government efforts to ensure the necessary flow of fresh water to the Ganges downstream,” he added.
The Ganges is critical to Bangladesh. About 37 percent of the country’s land area -- spanning 26 districts and 163 upazilas across four divisions -- depends on the river, known in Bangladesh as the Padma.
Dhaka and New Delhi will now need to hold fresh talks to shape a new arrangement for the decades ahead.
The Daily Star failed to get comments from Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee yesterday despite repeated attempts.
However, speaking to the newspaper in June, he said technical teams from both countries were working to renew the treaty and remained in constant communication, while expert teams were incorporating new conditions, including additional guarantee clauses.
A separate water-sharing arrangement for the Teesta River was finalised by Bangladesh and India in 2011 but was never signed after then West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposed it.
India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs has also flagged concerns over the absence of formal negotiations with Bangladesh, warning that further delay could strain bilateral ties.
The parliamentary committee, chaired by senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, said in its 15th Action Taken Report, tabled in parliament on July 30, that time is running out to renew or renegotiate one of the most consequential agreements governing transboundary river management between the two countries, according to several Indian media reports.
The panel noted that the Ganges treaty is more than a technical water-sharing arrangement: it affects the livelihoods, irrigation, agriculture and drinking water needs of millions on both sides of the border, while also carrying significant political sensitivity in Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Bihar.
The committee cautioned that failing to reach a new arrangement before the treaty expires could erode mutual confidence as both countries seek to reinvigorate their strategic partnership under Bangladesh’s new government and further complicate broader diplomatic ties if the uncertainty persists.
The 30-year treaty, signed by then prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart, HD Deve Gowda, on December 12, 1996, established a framework for sharing Ganges water during the January-May dry season, when river flow drops sharply.
Under its terms, Bangladesh receives a share of the water during the dry season each year, based on a formula linked to available flow and an average distribution plan calculated over 10-day periods.
If the flow is 70,000 cusecs or less, the treaty divides it equally between the two countries. Between 70,000 and 75,000, Bangladesh receives 35,000, with the remainder going to India. At 75,000 cusecs or above, India receives 40,000, and any surplus goes to Bangladesh.
The treaty contains no minimum guarantee clause. Instead, it relies on diplomatic negotiations to address any shortfall.
