Commitment to B'desh on sharing Teesta river can happen through friendship: Ram Madhav

Agartala (Tripura) [India] October 16 (ANI): National general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Ram Madhav on Monday said that the commitment to Bangladesh on sharing water of Teesta River can happen through mutual good will and friendship.

"India is committed to sharing water of Teesta River with Bangladesh and through mutual good will and friendship. We are trying to establish that kind of understanding and goodwill, there are certain political issues to be addressed but our commitments remains that as two friendly neighbours we have to share whatever goods we have," BJP's National General Secretary, Ram Madhav told media in Tripura.

He paid a day's visit to the state today for organisational works.

"Bangladesh is India's very close neighbour. We are divided by border, but connected by rivers. I was there to discuss about strengthening our bilateral ties further and also for using rivers as means to promote trade, business, travel and also to strengthen bilateral links between our two countries", he told reporters.

India and Bangladesh share 54 common streams with the Teesta being a major one and the water sharing dispute between the two neighbours is not something new.

The Teesta River is a 309 km long river flowing through Sikkim.

It carves a way for itself through the verdant Himalayas in temperate and tropical river valleys and forms the border between Sikkim and West Bengal.

It flows through the cities of Rangpo, Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong and joins the Jamuna (Brahmaputra) in Bangladesh.

The flow of the river is crucial for Bangladesh from December to March for that they require 50 percent of the river's water supply.

While India claims a share of 55 percent.

The dispute would take back to the time when Independent India was formed which reduced most of its northern rivers into 'shared water bodies.' (ANI)