DHAKA, Sept 19: Bangladesh and India began talks here on Monday on water sharing as opponents of controversial river-linking project staged protests. Scores of protesters shouted slogans and held placards warning of environmental disaster if a plan to divert water for Indian irrigation and electricity projects from rivers the flow downstream into Bangladesh is implemented.

Opponents believe the project would cause rivers in Bangladesh to dry up.

Indian water minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Hafizuddin Ahmad will discuss the sharing of water from seven common rivers, officials said.

Although a 30-year agreement between India and Bangladesh on water sharing from the Ganges was finally signed in 1996, no other agreements have been reached on scores of other shared rivers.—AFP