Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday made it clear that she would never allow the implementation of Teesta Water Agreement with Bangladesh as that would hurt the northern part of her State.
Iterating that she loved Bangladesh but would not allow that love to deprive Bengal. “We love Bangladesh. (But) that is a different issue,” Banerjee said adding “there is not enough water in the River Teesta to be shared with Bangladesh. People of North Bengal will not have access to drinking water. I will not allow anything like that,” the Chief Minister said during his speech in the State assembly.
Reminding how the Centre had put across a number of barrages on the Teesta upstream in Sikkim without consulting Bengal she said, “already there is no water in the River … there is problem of drinking water … I cannot allow more harm.”
The Chief Minister earlier said the Centre’s lack of attention on Bengal’s river issues was causing floods and draught simultaneously. She had raised the issue of Atreyee River in Balurghat district which had dried up because of a barrage built by Bangladesh with the help of China.
Dwelling on the issue she also blamed the Damodar Valley Corporation for not carrying out enough dredging activities in various rivers which was causing floods in southern Bengal.