Kushiyara River treaty between India and Bangladesh

During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India, the two sides signed a slew of agreements, including the first water sharing agreement since the landmark Ganga Water Treaty, 1996.

About Kushiyara agreement:

• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on sharing of the waters of the Kushiyara river, a distributary of the Barak river which flows through Assam, and then on to Bangladesh. 
• The agreement is aimed at addressing part of the problem that the changing nature of the river has posed before Bangladesh
• River unleashes flood during the monsoon and goes dry during the winter when demand of water goes up because of a crop cycle in Sylhet.
• Under the agreement, Bangladesh will be able to withdraw 153 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water from the Kushiyara that will solve the water crisis for farmers of Sylhet.
  
  

How will Bangladesh use the water?

• The water of Kushiyara will be channelled through the Rahimpur Canal project in Sylhet.
• The Rahimpur Canal project in Zakiganj upazila or subdivision of Sylhet was built to help the farmers access Kushiyara’s water but the facility used to remain dry during the lean season without serving the purpose for which it was built.
• The eight km long canal is the only supplier of water from the Kushiyara to the region and Bangladesh has built a pump house and other facilities for withdrawal of water that can now be utilised.