Sunday, September 18 2005 19:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: India today (Sept 18, 2005) said it was willing to look into Bangladesh's request for water-sharing treaties with respect to seven more rivers only after that country agreed to dredge its side of the river Icchamati.

''Let the Icchamati problem be solved first. Then we will look into it,'' Union Water Rersources Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi told newsmen here after a meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya and his Tripura counterpart Manik Sarkar before leaving for the 36th meeting of the Indo-Bangla Joint River Commission in Dhaka.

Bangladesh Water Resources Minister Hafizuddin Ahmed told newsmen in June that his country wanted water-sharing treaties with India in respect to the Teesta, Muhuri, Manu, Khowai, Gomti, Dudhkumar and Dharala.

India, which is carrying out dredging operations in the Icchamati to prevent recurring floods mainly in the border districts like North 24-Parganas, wants Bangladesh to take up dredging of the river on its side.

''Before the Dhaka meet, I wanted to get the views of the governments of West Bengal and Tripura on the river issue. Today, we discussed Icchamati and Teesta (in WB) and also the Feni and Muhuri (in Tripura). I have already ascertained the views of the Assam government,'' Dasmunshi said.

On the erosion along the Mahananda in West Bengal, he said since both India and Bangladesh were affected by the problem a guideline to check erosion was being worked out.