Bangladesh will push for a guarantee clause in the renewal of the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty with India, which expires in December.

Bangladesh will seek a "guarantee clause" in the renewed Ganges Water Treaty with India and is ready to approach international forums to protect its water rights, according to media reports.Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee made the remarks on Tuesday at a seminar titled "Ganges Water Treaty: Issues for Renegotiation" organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs in Dhaka, the state-owned BSS news agency reported.

The remarks came as the India-Bangladesh Ganges Water Treaty, signed in 1996 to govern dry-season sharing of the river's waters, is due to expire in December.
Water-sharing has remained a key issue in bilateral ties between New Delhi and Dhaka, with Bangladesh pushing for a renewed pact and India maintaining that bilateral discussions on renewal had not yet begun.
Anee on Tuesday said Dhaka remained committed to renegotiating the treaty and hoped that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would make a strong case for Bangladesh at the United Nations next month, the BSS report said.
"We must sign a treaty. Without a treaty, we have no way forward. This is our right," Anee was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper.
Anee stressed the need for a right-to-information provision in future water-sharing agreements and the restoration of a "guarantee clause" that was included in the 1977 Ganges treaty but omitted from the 1996 pact, the BSS report added.
A guarantee clause is a rule that promises a minimum amount of water to a downstream country, essentially aimed at protecting a nation's water supply during dry seasons or when river levels drop unexpectedly.
The minister further said Bangladesh wanted a treaty but was prepared to approach international bodies if necessary to secure one. He also expressed hope that India would recognise and respect the rights and sentiments of the Bangladeshi people, it said.
Bangladesh is unhappy with the current treaty mainly because it feels that the treaty does not guarantee enough reliable water during the driest seasons. The allocation formula is based on older hydrological conditions, while dry-season flows have become more uncertain, according to a report by the IMPRI think tank.
Bangladesh also argues that the treaty's environmental provisions are inadequate and wants broader consideration of upstream withdrawals, river health, salinity and ecological flows, it said.
The Farakka Barrage on the Ganges also remains a major source of contention in the India-Bangladesh water-sharing relationship. Built by India in West Bengal to divert part of the Ganga's flow into the Hooghly river system, the barrage has long been criticised in Bangladesh over concerns about reduced dry-season water flows downstream.
Anee on Tuesday said Bangladeshis had long viewed the Farakka Barrage as a "death trap," adding that India had built barrages and around 900 embankments along the Ganges after Farakka, which had strained relations between the two countries.
India maintains that the Farakka Barrage is not a dam but a diversion structure designed to channel about 40,000 cusecs of Ganga water into the Farakka canal through a system of gates, while the remaining flow continues downstream into Bangladesh, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
It also said water-flow data is regularly shared with Bangladesh through the Joint Rivers Commission as required under the protocol.
Bangladesh shares 54 major rivers with India, while the Ganges is among the most important of the transboundary waterways.
The two countries address water-sharing and river-related matters through the Joint Rivers Commission.
In July, India's parliamentary standing committee on external affairs had urged the government to begin talks with Bangladesh "without further delay" on renewal of the treaty, which it said was running short of time.
The panel recommended that negotiations be guided by updated hydrological data, climate projections and the concerns of the state of West Bengal and Bihar.
The Indian government told Parliament in February that discussions with Bangladesh on renewing the treaty had not yet commenced, while inputs from stakeholders, including the West Bengal government, had been considered in formulating India's position.
Anee's remarks on Tuesday came two days after he said Bangladesh does not want its friendly ties with India to deteriorate over the long-pending water-sharing agreement of the Teesta River, urging New Delhi to take into account Dhaka's interests while pursuing its own. 
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