DHAKA: India and Bangladesh held two meetings this week to improve customs operations for increased bilateral trade and to assess water-sharing in accordance with the 1996 Ganga water accord.

The two-day meeting of the joint group of customs (JGC) ended on Friday with a decision to close land customs stations (LCSs) on Fridays, the weekly holiday in Bangladesh. It also decided to hold a joint assistant commissioner-level meeting every month, a joint commissioner-level meeting every six months and a joint group of customs meeting every year.

Bangladesh Customs Commissioner of Benapole, Mohammed Nasiruddin, and Indian Joint Secretary (Customs) Kameshawary Subramanian headed the respective teams.

The Indian team mooted a motor vehicle agreement in the long term, which would help Bangladeshi and Indian trucks move freely across the border. The meeting, the third of its kind, was held as a follow-up to the joint working group meeting on trade held in Dhaka in August last year.

Assurance given

The Indian customs team acknowledged Bangladesh's problem over the four per cent special countervailing duty on all Bangladeshi export items imposed by India recently. Bangladesh was assured that the issue would be raised before the Finance Ministry for consideration.

Bangladesh requested India to allow its testing laboratory certificates in India, but India insisted on a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) and the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) for such approval.

The 33rd meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Committee on sharing the Ganga waters was held here on May 3, followed by the Committee's visit to the joint observation site at the Hardinge Bridge on May 2 to observe the flow measurements. It found the observations satisfactory.

Welcome development

An Indian High Commission press release said the Ganga flow at Hardinge Bridge on May 2 was found to be over 40,000 cusecs. This was well over Bangladesh's due share (35,000 cusecs) for the current 10-day dry period. The release said it was a welcome development as both countries received less than their respective shares during January-April 2006 owing to inadequate rainfall in the upper catchments.

The Joint Committee held that water releases at Farakka continue to be in accordance with the provisions of the 1996 treaty.

The Committee agreed to hold its next meeting in June in New Delhi.

However, local media, quoting the Bangladesh side, alleged that the country did not get its due share of the Ganga waters in the current lean season.

They said at the Farakka point, the level of the Ganga was at its lowest in the last 50 years. While the Indian side reportedly attributed this to inadequate rainfall in the upper catchments areas during January-April, Bangladesh pointed out that diversion of waters upstream through different connecting canals was one of the main reasons for the alarming situation.

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