Secretary of the water resources ministry, Dr Md Omar Faruque sent a letter to his Indian counterpart on Thursday conveying the invitation to talks on disputed water sharing issues.

Recently, India has deferred the ministerial level meeting of the JRC on the grounds that JCE meeting should be held prior to any meeting at ministerial level.

The meeting that has been postponed was slated for August 17 in Dhaka.

"We've asked them to sit in the meeting at secretary level next month as they willed. Ministerial level meeting will be held after the JCE meeting," Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram, the Water Resources minister yesterday told The Daily Star.

New Delhi in a recent communication to Dhaka said some issues, such as the formula of water sharing of Teesta River and erection of dam across River Muhuri, have to be settled before the ministerial meet, sources said.

"Agenda of the meeting remains the same. We've only informed them of setting a fresh date for the meeting," the minister said.

Sources said lack of response from India's part was allegedly behind cancellation of a JCE meeting last month. Water sharing of the 54 common rivers including Teesta was on the agenda of that meeting.

It has been a year since the last JRC meeting took place in August 2003 in New Delhi, though 1972's Ganges Water Sharing Treaty dictates the two countries to hold four JRC meetings every year.

The water resources ministry officials said that in several letters they had urged their Indian counterparts to schedule a JRC meeting immediately but to no effect.

The JCE headed by the water resources secretaries of India and Bangladesh has been working for the last seven years to work out a permanent or long-term formula for sharing water of seven important rivers -- Teesta, Dharala, Dudhkumar, Monu, Khowai, Gomti and Muhuri.