Kolkata With West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee raising objections to the draft of a 15-year agreement with Bangladesh on the sharing of Teesta river water, the Centre has decided to put it on hold. According to the draft, India and Bangladesh will share the water in the ratio of 52:48 with India keeping 400 cusec water in store every year. This ratio translates into diversion of 35,000 cusec water to Bangladesh every year, which Banerjee is objecting to. The CM contends that if Bangladesh is given more than 25,000 cusec every year, north Bengal would face a severe water crisis during the summer. India’s foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai said on Monday that India would sign the Teesta water accord with Bangladesh only after reaching a consensus with West Bengal on the issue. “In our federal scheme of things, nothing is done or will be done without the consent of the states. Any agreement we conclude will have to be acceptable by them and Bangladesh as well,” said Mathai. He made it clear that though the Union government had conceded to Banerjee’s demand, she would not accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his trip to Bangladesh starting September 6. Banerjee had said on August 27 that she would accompany the PM during his Bangladesh visit along with four other chief ministers from the North-Eastern states. But on Sunday Banerjee said she would not go to Bangladesh with the PM and be a part of the Teesta agreement that was against West Bengal’s interests. Sharing 35,000 cusec of Teesta water with Bangladesh would lead to a water crisis in the districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and parts of north Dinajpur during the summer. This would also affect agriculture in these districts, officials in the chief minister’s department argued. Sources in the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata said the sharing of Teesta water would have benefited the districts of Rajsahi and Dinajpur in Bangladesh. The earlier Ganga water sharing accord signed between India and Bangladesh in 1996 has already resulted in a water crisis in south Bengal. Sources said Banerjee’s decision came as a shock to the PM and he immediately asked Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to explain the diplomatic compulsions of signing such an agreement. But Banerjee is learnt not to have conceded to any of such explanations. The Bangladesh deputy high commission sources said the draft agreement was prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the Vienna Convention. If India tried to push anything other than the water-sharing in 52:48 ratio then it would be a violation of international norms, they argued. In fact, Bangladesh has been demanding Teesta water-sharing in a 50:50 ratio but the Seikh Hasina-led Awami League government has agreed to a 52:48 ratio. However, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party from the Opposition has been staging protests against this agreement, the sources said.