India, Bangladesh leaderships should support temporary renewal of Ganga Water Treaty, says expert

File image for representational purposes | Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

There is no possibility of a fully revised India-Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty in the mere four weeks left before the 30-year-old treaty expires, Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury, former Chairman of the National River Conservation Commission of Bangladesh said on Sunday (November 15, 2026). The current treaty could be renewed for three to five years “at the last moment”, Mr. Chowdhury said, but clearance would be needed at the highest level of political leadership for it.

“Four weeks is not sufficient for revising the old Ganga Water Treaty as river water treaties require more time to finalise. But having a bad treaty is also better than not having any treaty at all. We can at least opt for a renewal of the treaty for three to five years, if the political leaderships of both sides give the green signal,” Mr. Chowdhury said.

Also read | Ganga Water Treaty is ‘flawed’, needs to be updated: Bangladesh river expert

He cautioned Bangladesh on the upcoming agriculture season of February when, as in every year, Bangladesh’s dependence on Ganga water will increase. “Without a treaty, India will not have any commitment to release water at regular intervals and that might pose a major problem for Bangladesh’s agriculture sector, economy as well as ecology,” Mr. Chowdhury said.

The Ganga Water Treaty was signed in December 1996 by Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda of India and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. Prior to the signing of the treaty, for eight years between 1988 and 1996, Bangladesh suffered due to unpredictability in the supply of the Ganga’s water, and the treaty had ensured predictability, which helped Bangladesh, Mr. Chowdhury said.

The treaty stated that “sharing between India and Bangladesh of the Ganga waters at Farakka by ten days periods from the 1st January to the 31st May every year will be with reference to the formula at Annexure 1 of the treaty”. The Annexure 1 of the treaty had ensured that if the Farakka barrage would have 70,000 cusecs or less water, then the share of water would be 50% for both India and Bangladesh. The Annexure 1 also gave out similar division of water in Farakka for 70,000 to 75,000 cusecs, and for storage beyond 75,000 cusecs.

It would be difficult for Bangladesh to demand its share of waters of the Ganga without a legally and diplomatically binding treaty, Mr. Chowdhury said. “During the Ershad (President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990) years, we suffered from this lack of predictability, and reverting to that era will be a setback,” he said, adding that the Government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had not managed Bangladesh’s foreign policy requirements effectively as river water supply was related to Dhaka’s foreign policy.

“The foreign policy of the government has become unhinged from real requirements. At the moment, there is an urgent need for agreement between the political leaderships of Bangladesh and India to ensure the Ganga Water Treaty remains on track,” Mr. Chowdhury said.

The Ganga Water Treaty should have been revised and updated taking into account the problems, including sedimentation and the changes that the river had experienced over the last three decades, Mr. Chowdhury said in his conversation with The Hindu. “These updates could not be done in the last few months because of lack of meetings, and the Joint River Commission has turned out to be quite weak in performing its duties,” he said adding, “I am still hopeful that, at least by the first week of December, the two sides will act to save the treaty. But that would have to be a dramatic development.”

Published - November 15, 2026 10:06 pm IST