Context: The Chief Minister of Bengal reiterated her demand for the establishment of an Indo-Bhutan River Commission with West Bengal as one of its members.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains: Issues in Centre-State relations.
Need for Indo-Bhutan River Commission
- In north Bengal, especially in the districts Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, around 72 rivers and streams descend from Bhutan. They include some prominent rivers like Jaldhaka, Torsha, Raidak and Sankosh.
- During the monsoons these rivers spill over the banks and cause flood like situation in Bengal, particularly if it rains in the upper catchments of these rivers in Bhutan.
- The rivers flood and erode tea estates, forests, and human habitats.
- Huge sediments are deposited on the banks of these rivers, which compound the problems in these districts.
- Bengal has low-lying deltaic plains surrounded by rivers which resembles a “boat-like basin”. The Ganga river in Bengal remains swollen due to inflows from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, thus limiting the water absorption capacity and aggravating the situation.
Stand of Central Government
- The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti has clarified that there are no plans to constitute a joint river commission with Bhutan.
- Bilateral mechanisms between India and Bhutan already exist to address flood-related concerns.
- Joint teams and groups have been formed for flood management and forecasting of floods caused by the rivers which enter India from Bhutan.
- There are 36 hydro-meteorological stations in Bhutan at the catchments of the trans-border rivers, and the central water commission gets regular data for flood forecasting.
The issue reflects the larger Centre-State tension in India’s federal framework, where the state perceives political bias in the distribution of central resources for disaster relief and infrastructure.