West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pitches for study of smaller rivers

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has pitched for a fresh feasibility study of three to four smaller rivers in northern part of the state to augment the hydrological flow into Bangladesh.

She said instead of just looking at Teesta, rivers like Torsha and Mansai can be tapped for improving the flow of water to northern Bangladesh.

"The draught in Teesta is not good enough in the lean season. Sharing the Teesta waters with Bangladesh becomes difficult because that would lead to acute shortage of even drinking water in northern Bengal," Mamata told journalists after meeting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

Mamata said the proposal to study the flow of water in other smaller rivers was raised by her during Modi's official lunch for PM Hasina and again during a quiet dinner with her and President Pranab Mukherjee. 

"I am a well wisher of Bangladesh and I want them to get enough water, but Teesta alone cannot solve their problem because the flow in that river has been affected because of upstream power projects in the hill state of Sikkim, from which the river originates," Mamata told the media on Saturday.

"So we need to look at the other rivers and for that we need a feasibility study to find out how much water from them can be shared with Bangladesh."

Sources close to Banerjee also said that Bengal officials have told senior officials in Modi's PMO that building reservoirs in Bengal to store surplus Teesta waters during monsoon for use during lean season could be a solution.

River expert Kalyan Rudra, who headed the one-man committee to look at the Teesta set up by Banerjee, had made that suggestion.

If the Indian government agrees to pick the bill, Banerjee may be game. 

Before PM Hasina's visit, Banerjee had alleged she was being sidelined on the Teesta negotiations. But Modi made sure that did not happen and brought her into the loop.

Modi sounded optimistic on Saturday, when he told PM Hasina that ' only your government and mine can solve Teesta'.

He also told the Bangladesh prime minister that Mamata Banerjee is "as warm towards Bangladesh as I am."