The flow is not more than 3000 cusec now against about three lakh cusec in the rainy season due to unilateral withdrawal of water by India at the Gojaldoba Barrage point in the upstream, experts and Water Development Board (WDB) sources said.

The Gojaldoba Barrage, constructed on the Teesta 110 kms upstream, commissioned in 1987.

The river has turned into a streamlet at many points, with water depths as low as six inches. It has virtually dried up at many other points as numerous shoals have emerged, they told this correspondent yesterday.

In the 100 'risky zone' of the Teesta Barrage Project, the authorities somehow managed to keep the water depth at 12 feet for safety of the barrage through dredgibg, WDB sources at Dalia said.

Bangladesh is yet to reach in an agreement with India on sharing the Teesta waters. Bangladesh is claiming 20 per cent of the water for maintenance of normal flow of the river and another 45 per cent for irrigation and other purposes, they said.

Secretary level talks between the two countries held in the second week of November this year in Delhi produced no result, they said.

In the previous meetings, India had agreed to give 10 per cent of the water for normal flow of the river and another 25 per cent for irrigation and other purposes. Bangladesh disagreed with this proposal.

As there is no agreement, so it is up to Indian how much water Bangladesh will get, they said.

"We are getting the little quantity of water from upstream (India) at the mercy of God", a WDB official at Dalia said.

He said the Gojaldoba barrage area is at a level about 33 metres higher than the Teesta Barrage area. "So we are getting the small quantity of water that is seeping through the Gojaldoba Barrage and the soil".

It was gathered from various sources that there are 3,20,000 acres of IRRI-Boro lands under Gojaldoba Irrigation Project. Of these, 61,000 acres are in Jalpaiguri district, 17,000 acres in Darjeeling, 38,000 acres in Maldah and 20,4000 acres in the Indian Dinajpur district.

It is alleged that India is also diverting the Teesta water to Assam through the Brahamapulra and to Maldah through the Ganges.

In such a situation, the Technical Committee of Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission meets next month, which will be followed by a ministerial level meeting.

Many farmers this correspondent talked to during a visit to the Teesta Irrigation Project area in the last three days expressed their frustration about prospects of IRRI-Boro crops because this is the prime time for cultivation. Fields will dry up is minimum irrigation can not be ensured, they said.