Friday, September 15 2006 17:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Agartala: India and Bangladesh today (Sept 15, 2006) decided to jointly resolve bilateral disputes over water projects and land strips along major rivers on the border with their respective water resources ministers making on-the-spot inspections, officials said.

"The India-Bangladesh Joint River Commission (JRC), headed by the water resources ministers of the two countries, conducted an on-the-spot study of disputed water projects and other riverside land in south Tripura before the two-day JRC in Dhaka on Tuesday," G.K. Malakar, Tripura's water resources department chief engineer, told IANS.

The 12-member Bangladeshi delegation headed by Hafizuddin Ahmed and the 15-member Indian delegation led by Saifuddin Soz visited two bordering sub-divisions - Sabroom and Belonia - in south Tripura.

The JRC delegation will also inspect Ichamati river in the North 24-Parganas district in West Bengal on Sunday before they conduct a similar spot verification of the disputed water-based projects on the Bangladeshi side on Monday.

"We will try to solve the dispute through discussion in a congenial atmosphere and I am hopeful Bangladesh will appreciate our genuine problems," India's minister Soz told journalists before leaving for south Tripura's bordering town Sabroom, 135 km from here.

"At least 21 river embankments, 14 lift irrigation projects, one water treatment project and several town protection schemes along the Indo-Bangla border in south Tripura have either remained incomplete or could not start following the Bangladesh government's uninterrupted protests during the past three years," Malakar, a member of the Indian delegation, said.

Bangladesh shares 54 rivers with India, including 10 with Tripura, besides a large number of rivulets. Dhaka is opposing any move to share water on the ground that it would deprive Bangladesh of its fair share of river water in the future.