Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today reiterated in the parliament that her government would not make any concession that may harm Bangladesh’s interests through construction of Tipaimukh dam by India. Responding to a supplementary question from ex-Law Minister Abdul Matin Khasru, Hasina said the government has decided to constitute an expert committee to monitor the situation.

The prime minister expressed firm optimism that her government will settle the issue of Tipaimukh dam through discussion with India. She said India assured the parliamentary delegation that visited the Tipaimukh-dam site that the dam was designed to produce hydroelectricity and reduce the intensity of floods.

“Instead of getting locked in arguments, we better resolve the problem through discussion. I’ve firm conviction that any problem could be resolved through discussion," she said. "We had settled the Ganges water-sharing issue through negotiation with New Delhi and signed an agreement for 30 years on the sharing of waters of the Ganges. So I firmly believe that we can resolve any problem through negotiation. "We already decided to form an expert committee on the issue and negations will also continue with India," she added.

-Daily Star

JS team places report on visit to Tipaimukh site

The New Age: The parliamentary delegation, which visited the site of the planned Tipaimukh dam in India, placed its report in the house noting that a joint study agreed to 31 years ago by the two countries on the dam’s possible impacts, had never been conducted. ‘It was decided at the 14th meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission in 1978 that a joint survey by engineers from both the sides would be conducted on the feasibility of the dam project, and the survey report would be placed at the next meeting of the JRC. [But] the study has not been conducted as yet,’ reads the report submitted by the delegation chief, Abdur Razzak.

The Indian authorities started an investigation into the dam project on the river Barak which was conceived in 1977 for flood control in the north-eastern part of India. In line with the scheme, the issue was discussed at the JRC meetings. The 14th meeting had resolved, ‘With regard to the flood problems in Sylhet-Cachar and adjoining areas, the commission decided that engineers from the two countries should jointly examine the scope of the Indian scheme of storage dam on Barak river at Tipaimukh and study expeditiously the potential flood control and other benefits in Bangladesh and report to the commission at its next meeting.’

Razzak, also the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on water resources ministry, led the 10-member delegation comprising lawmakers and water experts to New Delhi, held talks there and visited the project site at Tipaimukh in the Indian State of Manipur between July 29 and August 4, 2009. He said with the data and information acquired on the project the government had decided to conduct a study by an expert committee to assess the possible impacts of the dam on Bangladesh. In his report, the ruling party lawmaker said that the Indian ministers and officials had assured them that they would not undertake any schemes harmful for Bangladesh. They also provided the delegation with necessary data and information and said that the project was designed only for production of hydro-electricity.

Tipaimukh dam report handed to parliament

bdnews: A report on the all-party parliamentary team's fact-finding mission on Tipaimukh dam project site was presented in parliament on Wednesday. Water resources ministry-related parliamentary standing committee chairman Abdur Razzak presented the eight-page report.

Razzak, a former water resources minister, said, "During low-altitude flight of the helicopter no structure came into the view of the team of representatives. "No preparatory activity was seen to create any barrage or structure at the low-lying areas of the project. No physical work had started for the implementation of the project," he said. The report said Indian foreign minister S M Krishna and power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde assured the representative team that there was no irrigation component under Tipaimukh project.

No barrage or irrigation structure will be constructed on the low end or anywhere else and no water will be taken from the Borak River, they had told the team. "The project is only being implemented to create hydroelectricity and decrease the occurrence of floods. No structure for collecting water would be created in the low end of the project," the report quoted Indian officials as saying. India's contentious dam project is planned to cross the Barak River, which enters into Bangladesh as the Surma and Kushiara rivers. The two rivers are lifeline for hundreds of water bodies in the greater Sylhet region of Bangladesh.

A 10-member representative team headed by Razzak visited India from July 29– Aug 04. But physical visit to the site in the northeastern Manipur state was not possible on July 31 and Aug 2 due to poor weather conditions. Razzak said on return from India that the ministers had assured them that they would not implement any project to harm Bangladesh. Main opposition BNP has been among the loudest critics of the proposed dam, although it failed to take up the offer of sending two MPs with the delegation to India. The report discussed various studies conducted by Indian organisations and said, "There is no major change visible in the hydro-morphological aspect in the project area."

It says that the Indian authority has for the first time handed over a booklet with detailed information and data about the project to the team. And the foreign and power minister of India have promised to give any information or data about hydrology, topography, environment of the project if Bangladesh asks for. The report mentioned constitution of a specialist committee to study the information and data about the project. India had already said on a number of occasions the dam would not withhold water, but environmentalists and the people of Bangladesh, as well as Manipur state, remain concerned over the impact of the projected dam in vulnerable downstream areas.