Posted on 07/14/2007 8:16:23 PM PDT by sagar
The 48-year-old Gandak Agreement between Nepal and India on the use of water of Gandaki River has to be reviewed, local state-owned newspaper The Rising Nepal reported Saturday.
The Agreement on the Gandak Irrigation and Power Project was signed between the then deputy prime minister Subarna Shumsher Rana on behalf of Nepali government and the then Indian Ambassador Bhagwan Sahay in Kathmandu, on Dec. 4, 1959.
The cross-border project is for using the Gandaki River for irrigation, electricity generation and flood control. "But none of the provision have benefited Nepal," the report said.
The report says despite being the upper riparian country, Nepal has remained at the receiving end since the agreement and understandings have not been put into effect, a member of the irrigation committee on the Nepalese side said.
Because of the dam constructed on the Gandaki River, around 30 villages of Nawalparasi district, some 160 southwest of capital Kathmandu, suffer from inundation and river cutting.
India has constructed 11 gates from the dam and taken water to irrigate its land in the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states. On the Nepalese side, although there are three gates, but one gate is always closed. "The Nepalese farmers are in a more disadvantaged position because the keys to the gates are in Indian hands," the report reveals.
The agreement also has provision for electricity generation. There are three power-generating units of 5,000 kw each and India has constructed a 15,000 kw power generating unit in Nepal's land.
The 15,000 kw power unit was handed over to Nepal 24 years ago, but now only two of the three turbines are in operation.
"The Gandak agreement has unilaterally benefited India and it is not in Nepal's interest at all," said Ghanashyam Koirala, member of the Federation of National Irrigation Consumers' Association of Nepal.
"The more the agreement is allowed to continue the more Nepalese will suffer," says Nawalparasi party district chairman from Nepali Congress Krishna Chandra Nepali. The second ruling party after Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) district committee member Krishna Poudel also says the agreement should be totally revised in the interest of the Nepalese.
Source: Xinhua
I’d say these treaties are unfair to Nepal — a large chunk of fertile Nepalese plains are artificially flooded so that India can reap benefits from water through irrigation and powerplans.
If you pretend to support the 8-party government, then you must have no problem with this. After all, people are deciding what to do with the water source. China is not pulling any strings, because we all know that the tin-pot dictator King was pro-Chinese, while these righteous Maoist-allies in the government are for the people.
I have no problem with this or anything. I am fine with it if Nepal chooses not to have any relation with India at all.
Nepal's political parties thrive on and compete with each other by whipping up anti-India emotion with their usual rhetoric. It includes all political parties. Even the King (if he had been in power) would be no different. Nepalese wont admit but all their anti-India posturing is what defines their national character. It a national pass-time to fester their collective chip on their shoulder as regarding India. Hence any treaty with India signed by any party will likely be criticized on one pretext or another. If at all you are able to get over your anti-India hardwiring which defines your national identity, you would see it isn't really about India at all. Your politicians need someone to blame for their own incompetence.
The 15,000 kw power unit was handed over to Nepal 24 years ago, but now only two of the three turbines are in operation.”
Oh that most certainly has to be India’s fault. /sarc
Had it been the case that the villages on the Nepalese side had less water instead of more, I would expect Nepal to complain that India is starving their water supply.
BTW I suppose when it suits you, you would throw your weight on the side of the “righteous Maoist-allies in the government” (by your own words). Not surprising you would now support them over this issue. For you all that matters is if they are against India.
Lol.
The anti-India attitude in Nepal baffles me. Once China announces that the territory was part of Tibet, or something like that, things will start shaking up. It might just have to be that, unfortunately.
And yet these countries can do as much as nothing without help from India. Even the bill for the hydro power projects in Nepal has to be pocketed by India through long term purchase agreements and by private Indian investors. Nepal has enormous surplus potential for hydro power export. But it just cant do without India. Its only market is India, its only investor is India. And it needs India for technology and construction. And yet none of these can go forward without political stability. What many Nepalese dont know is that Nepal get more Indian governmental aid then what states like Bihar and Orissa gets from the center. What they would rather have India do is get the necessary financial and developmental help from India then tell them to f***off and not meddle in their affairs.
The irony of Nepal is that all sides are desperate to get India’s recognition and favour but in public they want to appear as though they are defying India and standing up to “Indian hegemony” (an oft repeated word in Nepali polity). And they compete among themselves on it. They hurl the favourite “India tool” label on their opponents whenever a side is seen to be too friendly to India. Its not that India has anything to do with it but an indication of how much India is dominating their psyche and how strong a projection of defiance is required to overcome such a psyche. Their projection of India in their minds and the fear thereof is far bigger then the reality of how much Indians are really interested in conquering and dominating over Nepal.
Its not that India is dying to conquer another Bihar like state but very soon there maybe a situation where Nepal will collapse and will have to join Indian union for survival. Each year more people come into India from Nepal then the other way round. The choice would be to either fence them off like we did with B’desh or absorb them. I would prefer India absorbing Nepal. After all they are just the same as India in every way. Absolutely nothing is different about them.
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