By IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, calling for making the Indo-Bhutan Joint River Commission effective.
“The Indo-Bhutan Joint River Commission was a brainchild of then union water resources minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi. But the commission has now become virtually defunct,” state Irrigation Minister Manas Bhuniya told reporters.
A large number of rivers flowing through north Bengal and the country’s northeastern states originate in Bhutan.
“So we need to activate the Indo-Bhutan Joint River Commission to control floods in the north Bengal districts in line with the Indo-Bangladesh Joint River Commission,” Bhuniya said.
He said the joint river commission can also play an important role in the preparation of a master plan for controlling floods in north Bengal.
“Our chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will write to the prime minister in this regard,” he said.