Bangladesh-India JRC meeting to be held in March in Kolkata

A meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission between India and Bangladesh is going to be held in March. This year, it is learnt that this meeting will be held in Kolkata. It is to be noted that the Joint River Commission was formed by the two neighboring countries in 1972. Its main objective was to discuss issues like irrigation, flood, dams and cyclone control and other river-related issues, as well as water resource sharing at a technical level. It was formed as part of the India-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace in March 1972.

However, in this upcoming meeting, the Tripura government has said that it will raise the issue of reconstruction of a dam by the Bangladeshi authorities. This dam is being constructed in Alinagar of Moulvibazar district of Bangladesh, which is located near Rangauti area of ​​Tripura. Some parts of the dam fall along the 'Zero Line' of the international border. The Tripura state government has already submitted the matter to the Union Home Minister of India, Amit Shah, along with satellite images, said Sudhan Debbarma, Chief Engineer of Tripura Water Resources Department.

On the other hand, the Tripura government is also going to start its own dam repair work in the Rangauti area on the Indian border. Rs 4.50 crore has been allocated for the repair of a 4.30-km-long dam there. Debbarma said, "The repair work of this 4.30-km dam will start soon."

It is learned that Bangladesh started repairing the dam as the dam was damaged during the last monsoon. But after objections from the Indian side, the repair work was stopped and no work was done along the 'zero line' until an amicable solution to the matter was found.

The 'zero line' falls up to 150 yards from the border pillar in the territory of both countries. Generally, no structure is allowed to be built on the 'zero line', but it can be done with mutual consent, Debbarma said. The Tripura government hopes that this complication will be resolved through discussions at the Joint River Commission meeting in March.