On Board Air India One, Nov 12: There is still some distance to be covered before the Teesta water-sharing agreement with Bangladesh can be signed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today.
He said the Centre has had discussions with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose strong reservations had scuttled the signing of the agreement earlier this year.
“It is too early. We have held preliminary discussion (with Banerjee). There is still some distance to be covered,” Singh told journalists accompanying him while returning from Maldives.
He was responding when asked about the progress on signing of the agreement under which India and Bangladesh will share Teesta River water.
Singh, who met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Maldives on the sidelines of SAARC Summit, said they had held a brief discussion of the Teesta problem.
“I mentiond to the Prime Minister (Hasina) that we will work to build a national consensus so that an agreement can become a realistic proposition,” he said.
He said the two leaders also discussed the roadmap for the implementation of the Agreement on Boundaries signed in September.
“As you know, we have reached an Agreement but it requires Constitutional amendment. We will work to that end,” he said.
There was also other discussion about providing electricity to Bangladesh from India and “we said within the limits of our capabilities, we will certainly be helpful,” the Prime Minister said.
