The Farakka Barrage is a dam on the Bhagirathi river located in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly from the border with Bangladesh.
Bilateral relations had improved in 1977 during the governments of the then-Prime Minister Morarji Desai of India and the then-President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh;[REF] in 1977 both leaders signed a 5-year treaty on water-sharing, but this duly expired in 1982 without being renewed [REF].