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Bangladesh And India: Tipaimukh Dam And Transparency

Written by flashgordon on

From: indigenouspeoplesissues.com

Bangladesh and India: Tipaimukh Dam And Transparency

Our previous report on the damaging aspects of the Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project and protests against it generated much reader response. This post has updates on the situation.

Asadul Haque at Haque's Talking describes how this has been a hot debate in Bangladesh recently:

The Tipaimukh dam issue currently continues to dominate the domain of political, media, intellectual and civil society’s discourse in Bangladesh with a unilateral demand for revocation of India’s decision for the project. Massive public protest in different forms i.e. rallies, protest meetings, strikes and so on against the dam continue to gain momentum in Bangladesh.

Zahid at Sachalayatan writes:

???????? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ???? ????, ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ????? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???????? ????? ???????? ??? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????, ??????????, ??????, ?????? ?????? ?????, ???????? ??????? ???????? ????, ??????? ???? ??????????? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????? ???????? ????????? ??????????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??????, ??? ???? ????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ???, ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ???????? ???????? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ????????? ????????? ????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???????????? ????-?? ???? ??????? ????????? ????????? ??? ?????? ???????? ???? ????????? ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ???????? ?????? ??????? ?? ???, ?? ?? ??????? ???? ???? ???????? ?????? ???? ???????, ?????? ????? ??? ???????? ??? ???????, ????????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????????, ???? ?????? ???? ?????????? ?????????? ????? ????? ????? ??????????

Bangladesh is in a big problem. We are still not getting the real picture, so are bickering with political motives - where we should be thinking about the solution. The issue is being talked about in blogs, newspapers and rallies. Diplomatic efforts are being carried out. We are hearing about many new experts being brought in. But most of our 150 million people are still sleeping on it without any worry. The poor farmer near Sunamganj, whose livelihood and nutrition for the whole year is the boro crops, is also sleeping without knowing what future awaits for him. Our mighty Padma river has shrinked because of Farakka Barrage. The barrage was built in 1974-75 and an agreement to protect from the unilateral withdrawal of water by India took 20 years of diplomatic efforts. In the mean time our rivers have lost their depth, our lands have lost fertility, our Sundarbans forest has been tainted with salinity. The green Bangladesh as named by Ibn Battuta has become almost like a desert.

The protests have already spread in Internet. More than 80 Facebook groups have been opened, which includes: :: Stop Tipaimukh Dam ::, Protest Against ‘Tipaimukh Dam', Tipaimukh Dam & Fulertal Barrage - Lets Stop India, Stop Tipaimukh Dam, Save Our Bangladesh Tipaimukh Dissemination. Dedicated blog sites have been launched to compile and disseminate Tipaimukh dam related news.

Anondomoye discovers [bn] from the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report:

?????? ????????? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ???????? ????? ???? ???? ?? ??.??. ?????? ????????? ???? ??????? ????????? ?????????? ??? (?? ???? ????? ???????? ??? ????)?

The most important information I gathered from the report is that there is also a plan of building a barrage in Fulertal, 95km upstream of the Tipaimukh dam (India has always denied this fact).

Image courtesy Subir Bhowmik

Navid says:

The Tipaimukh Dam project may not be harmful to us rather useful if it only consists of a Dam. The problem will arise if India makes Fulertal Barrage along with the Dam. The Barrage can really render this great country into a desert.

The recent comments of the Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh has caused much uproar in Bangladesh politics, reports An Ordinary Citizen. Indian journalist Subir Bhowmik writes in his blog that hiding of facts are fuelling more controversies. He opines:

If we leave this aside as normal compulsions of domestic politics in Bangladesh, it still falls on India to take a lower-riparian neighbour like Bangladesh into confidence when we plan such huge projects like Tipaimukh.

However, Diganta Sarkar at The New Horizons comments on the EIA and EMP documents that he “hardly finds a ground to accuse (the Indian) Government of hiding anything” as these are available online. He is also satisfied with the mitigation effort and planning to tackle the environmental damages and earthquake threats published in those documents but questions whether all of them will be implemented.

Zahid has already published five posts of his investigative six part series [bn] describing the impact of the dam and barrage refuting the Indian claims that there will be no environmental damage in Bangladesh. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5). He says:

???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ????????? Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) ? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ???????? ???? ??????? ??? ???? ??????????? ?

A layman also knows that there are some effects of a dam in the downstream region. But how logical is this that the Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) in this billion dollar project has almost neglected the downstream region.

Indian blogger Biplob Pal says [bn]:

??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ?????????? ???-?????? ?????? ?-?? ????? ??? ???????? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ???????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ?

???????? ??? ????????? ???? ??? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?? ????????? ??????? ???? ???? ????????? ????? ????? ??, ?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ????????? ???? ???? ?????????????? ?????? ???? ??????? ??????? ????? ????? ???? -?????????? ?????? ??????????? ???????? ???????? ???? ??????? ?????? ????????

We of course want electricity. India is an industrialized country and nobody needs daily power outages of 4-10 hours. But to generate that there is no need to squander the water wealth of The Himalayas and destroy livelihood of millions of people.

Tipaimukh is not an isolated incident. There are plans to build about hundred more such hydro-electric plants in India. After all, the more dams the more contracts. The politicians will also cash in. The profit is multidimensional: more money, more votes. The price will be paid by the common people of India and Bangladesh. And most of them are indigenous, rivers are their only livelihood.

Jiten Yumnam at Intercultural Resources reminds that this project can spark movements in India's Manipur state:

India should refrain from constructing Tipaimukh dam to avoid multidimensional conflicts and complications as the project is potentially rife for causing conflicts between states, between state and indigenous peoples and between indigenous peoples all over control and management of resources and definition of developmental priorities. As Manipur is already rife with movements for right to self determination, any forced construction of Tipaimukh dam with its multifaceted impacts will only legitimize their movement to defend their land and resources.

A 10-member all-party delegation of parliamentarians of Bangladesh is visiting India currently to assess the situation. The Bangladesh government has requested India not to start building the dam without Bangladesh's consent. Muhammad Zamir opines in an Oped at The Daily Star:

What is required today is transparency and political will. One hopes that the visit of our Parliamentary delegation will be followed not only by intensive discussion on the basis of shared data between relevant experts from both countries but also meetings between the two political leaderships. An acceptable equation has to be reached between sovereign rights and national interests.

From Global Voices Online by Rezwan

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