Tipaimukh dam to destroy ecology: experts

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jun/04/nat.html#2

Tipaimukh dam to destroy ecology: experts
Staff Correspondent

Commissioning of the planned Tipaimukh dam by India will escalate socio-economic and political tension in India’s north-eastern states and also Bangladesh, and imperil the ecology of the region, green campaigners said.

After sounding this note of caution, a leading environmentalist on Wednesday demanded that New Delhi must make public all the documents on the Tipaimukh hydro-electric project and Dhaka should raise its voice against such an ecologically destructive project in the country’s interest.

‘We will definitely protest against it in collaboration with the rights groups in India. If the construction of this dam is allowed, it will instigate insurgents like ULFA as we have seen in the past,’ said Muzaffar Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Paribesh Abdolon, on the sidelines of a roundtable on climate change at the office of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

Referring to widespread resentment in Manipur and other states of north-eastern India caused by the planned mega-project, he warned that Bangladesh might be a victim of the socio-economic repercussions of the dam.

‘I talked to Medha Patkar [environmental campaigner] who has called for resistance against such a dangerous project through people-to-people contact,’ said Muzaffar, adding that the Indian civil society organisations would extend their support to those who oppose the building of the dam.

Citing the example of the Farakka Barrage that has deprived Bangladesh its due share of water, he predicted that the Tipaimukh dam would allow hardly any flow of water during the dry season and eject excess water during the rainy season, leading to drought and flood respectively.

‘We have had a bitter experience with regard to the Kaptai Dam project that created a social crisis and led to displacement of the ethnic minority people. Whatever profit India wants to make by generating 50,000 megawatts of electricity will eventually result in devastating consequences for the people in this part of the world,’ said Muzaffar.

The meeting, presided over by CPB’s president Manjurul Ahsan Khan, called for preparation of a people’s charter incorporating various aspects of the effects of climate change and the measures to mitigate them.

‘Political parties should play an enhanced role in promoting the country’s cause in an issue which is a question of life and death for us. But it is solvable,’ he said.