Clinton hopes Indo-Bangla water-sharing issue will be resolved

"These are certainly on the list of things I would want to talk about," Clinton told an interactive session here when asked whether sharing of the Teesta waters with Bangladesh would be on her agenda of talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Stating that the United States had no interest in how the water-sharing pact was arrived at, she said that it wanted the issue to be amicably resolved as "these will become hot issues, literally hot issues in the future."

Clinton said, "Water is an issue that will increasingly become contentious. The alternative will be perhaps a conflict which will lead to dislocation, refugee problems and destabilisation that we are seeing in places in North Africa. We have to work together."

Sharing of Teesta waters has become a contentious issue between Bangladesh and India with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressing reservations over the quantum of water to be given to the eastern neighbour.

The West Bengal chief minister had opposed the amount of water that the central government had agreed to give to Bangladesh as part of the Teesta water pact. Banerjee has also formed a committee to suggest the amount of water that West Bengal could give without affecting the interest of farmers.