Local people from the Gandak region in the Terai of southern Nepal and members of the Narayani Nadee Niyantran Sangharsa Samiti (Gandak River Control Struggle Committee) - Nawalparasi have embarked on an indefinite strike that began from the 24th May 2008. Activists have proposed 21 Points of demand regarding the Gandak barrage that they wish the respective Governments of Nepal and India to consider. The venue of the strike is located in the western Gandak canal of India. In an act of sheer bravery, activists have set up a makeshift camp barely 150 metres away from the sluice gates of the Gandak Barrage, refusing to shift until their needs have been adequately addressed. This has resulted in the complete immobilization of the two Indian canals; not a single drop of water has been released by the Indian Government since the commencement of the strike. These canals together provide irrigation facilities to the Indian states of Bihar and Utter Pradesh for thousands of hectares of agricultural lands.

The Gandak Barrage has garnered much controversy since its construction in 1964. Built by the government of India on the border of Nepal and India, it was fatefully given the go ahead after the joint contract of the “Gandaki Irrigation and Power Project Agreement” on 4th December 1959 in Kathmandu. The agreement stipulated that India would construct barrages, irrigation canals and head regulators for the common benefits of water sharing for their people. It also allowed India to purchase and occupy land in Nepali territory for the purposes of the structures. However, the actual division of water has been a rather contentious issue, indeed, questions of inequity and power struggles have continually marred the life of the Gandak Dam.

Instead of the promised, much lauded benefits of increased irrigation, the canals have rained tragedy upon the locals as many a failed dam story can attest. Every year during the monsoon, people in the surrounding catchment become unwilling victims of inundation and increased flooding. On the other hand, when water is most needed during the dry season, India refuses to open the sluice gates to the Eastern Nepal Canal, keeping the keys safely hidden in the state coffers. While abundant rushing waters flow downstream into Bihar and U. P. states, the Nepalese tributaries resemble drought stricken scars on the landscape rather than rivers. Nepal receives barely 3 percent of the total water from this supposed ‘common sharing agreement’. India, however, gets the mother load, harnessing 97 percent of this white gold. Due to an unequal agreement signed without proper insight, lured by the political promises of India and no doubt bullied by a fair amount of state level intimidation, Nepal lost this “common benefit”. But with that, a greater tragedy would befall the rights of her people. Not only had she forfeited all bargaining power and riparian rights, Nepal had paved the way for indefinite Indian hegemony over her national water assets by the simple mark of a signature, condemning her farmers to annual torrents of nature’s fury.

Article 9 of the Gandaki Agreement states that:

“His Majesty’s Government of Nepal (now Government of Nepal) will continue to have the right to withdraw for irrigation of any other purpose from the river or its tributaries in Nepal such supplies of water as may be required by them from time to time and His Majesty’s Government agrees that they shall not exercise this right in such manner as is likely, in the opinion of the parties hereto, prejudicially to affect the water requirements of the Project as set out in the schedule annexed hereto”.

According to this agreement, India is responsible for the complete maintenance and cleaning of the barrage, siphon and canal systems. India has not performed this duty seriously for last two decades. The evidence speaks clearly with the structures in the Nepali side lying in a state of disrepair, whether anyone from the Indian side bothered to check is debatable. Disintegrating cement walls crumble into the body of the canals, a grey trickle answers to the excuse of flowing waters; debris and general rubbish block the siphons while sluice gates and chains weep with rust colored tears. Apparently, the temples of modern India are not worthy of the mighty state’s devotion nor upkeep.

On the 15th June 2008, local people organized a huge mass gathering at the Gandak Barrage at the point of no man’s land where a bridge connects Nepal to India. Various national and international activists, members of NGOs, political leaders and affected locals from both countries were present to express their solidarity and support for the campaigns fight for justice. Chairperson of Water & Energy Users’ Federation-Nepal (WAFED) Mr. Ram Chandra Chataut also addressed the meeting. He stressed that the unequal Gandak Agreement must be immediately repealed and if a new treaty has to be signed between Nepal and India, equality, human rights and benefit sharing between the countries must be the first priorities. He also added that the Gandak Agreement has already lost its validity with the people most affected and is thus obsolete.

In addition to Water & Energy Users’ Federation-Nepal (WAFED), Himalayan & Peninsular Hydro-Ecological Network (HYPHEN), Campaign Service Center-Nawalparasi, Indreni, Ramgram Dalit Utthan Samaj and various other organizations also expressed their solidarity to the ongoing Gandak movement and wishes for their success. Mr. Ram Kewat, Chairperson of Gandak Nadee Niyantran Sangharsa Committee, and Secretary Prem Chandra Gupta, Mr. Baijnath Chaudhari, local leader of Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist and Leninist (UML), Ms. Sita Baudel and Mr. Chinak Kurmi Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) also Member of Constituent Assembly, stressed that the government has to dissolve the Gandak Agreement immediately. They further reiterated that the Gandak Agreement must be re-negotiated on the basis of equality and justice for both countries and their people.

To debate the perpetual irresponsibility and lack of accountability from the Indian Government seems an exhausted, if not moot point. Unfortunately, neither can the Government of Nepal be aroused from its self induced, deep slumber. Local people representing more than 13 Village Development Committees (VDCs) and activists from various water and human rights groups have gathered enmasse to make their demands heard. Three members are on a continual hunger strike under the flimsy bamboo and canvas camp, yet nature cares little for political dramas and monsoonal waters continue to rise regardless. Whether the health or livelihoods of these people will even get a mention seems unlikely.

While various news and radio reporters were present, the major media houses are currently too concerned with outdoing each other with outrageous stories of the ongoing political acrobatics to bother about the looming water crisis, let alone a bunch of activists in the far reaches of the newly formed Republic. We have witnessed the inflated reluctance of past Nepali governments to address national human rights abuses. It is only after relentless pressure from international advocacy networks that has stung the giant bureaucratic machine into action. The issue of river basin management is not merely of national concern, but involves the global community. In a world where diminishing water resources are stacked against an ever increasing human population, the equitable sharing of trans-boundary resources is imperative. Unless there is national and international pressure, governments will continue to ignore the plight of her people. Will Gandak be another case of cowering in the face of Indian hegemony and relegated to the ‘too difficult’ box? Or will those top level officials finally take notice when the people’s anger can no longer be swallowed silently?

WAFED is a member of the Water for the People Network, a broad network of organizations working on water issues in Asia. For more information, please visit www.w4pn.org