With Farakka treaty nearing expiry, JD-U revives Nitish Kumar’s long campaign against barrage

National Democratic Alliance ally Janata Dal (United) has intensified its push against the Farakka Treaty by launching a campaign across 12 districts of Bihar situated on the banks of the river Ganga – a development that comes at a time when Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary reiterated that Bihar's “interest should be guarded in the Farakka treaty”.

At its core, the JD-U’s "Nitish Samvad" (Nitish dialogue) is a pushback against a water treaty that Bihar politicians see as detrimental to the state’s interests. A bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh signed in 1996, the Farakka treaty – officially the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty – was signed on December 12, 1996, and regulates the sharing of the Ganges River's waters at the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal, India, primarily during the dry season (January 1 to May 31).

But the JD-U has now gone a step further in this pushback: citing a stance repeatedly taken by its chief and former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the party is demanding that the barrage be dismantled. “We have called it 'Nitish Samvad' for a larger connection with the public.

Nitish Kumar has repeatedly raised the demand with the Centre to dismantle the Farakka Barrage, which causes heavy siltation and floods,” JD(U) national working president and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha told The Indian Express.

He further said: “One can find several of Nitish Kumar’s video speeches detailing his stand on Farakka. We also carry his audio message as we visit people across the 12 districts through which the Ganga flows in Bihar.” The JD(U) team has so far covered four districts, Buxar, Bhojpur, Begusarai, and Khagaria, for its "Nitish Samvad" campaign.

Former CM Nitish Kumar, however, will not be travelling for it. Jha, who is leading the initiative, said the party hopes to wrap up the campaign well before the Farakka treaty ends in December. “We are completely against its renewal, as it fails to serve our interests.

Instead, it remains one of the primary causes of devastating floods in Bihar." This comes a day after Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said the treaty must safeguard Bihar's interests. “We currently receive Ganga water for only four months, July to October, whereas we require flow throughout the year,” he said in Munger.

The barrage was built in 1975 to divert water from the Ganga into the Hooghly River to flush out silt and to keep Kolkata Port navigable. However, this reduced downstream river flow into Bangladesh, causing severe water shortages, increased soil salinity, and ecological stress in southern Bangladesh.

The 1996 treaty established a 30-year binding framework (1996–2026) to replace earlier short-term stopgap arrangements and ensure predictable water distribution. Unlike the earlier 1977 temporary agreement, the 1996 treaty lacks a "minimum flow guarantee clause”.

If total flow falls drastically below 50,000 cusecs, the treaty only calls for immediate emergency consultations between both governments. Siltation, reduced groundwater discharge, upstream water withdrawal, and erratic rainfall patterns have altered the river's actual availability in Bihar compared to 1996 baseline levels.

For two decades, the Bihar government has been flagging concerns over the barrage with the Centre — first under Nitish Kumar and now under Samrat Choudhary. The Bihar government The Bihar government argues that the structure has created a severe “flood-and-parch” dynamic upstream, and that the heavy silt trapped behind the barrage has drastically elevated the Ganges riverbed, destroying its natural water storage capacity and driving severe seasonal floods into surrounding districts like Bhagalpur and Munger during the monsoons.

Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. Expertise He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte.

Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. ... Read More