Khaleda Zia writes to Manmohan over Tipaimukh Dam project

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Khaleda Zia writes to Manmohan over Tipaimukh Dam project

Dhaka : Bangladesh's leader of opposition Khaleda Zia has urged Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to allow a survey by experts before proceeding with the Tipaimukh Dam project in northeast India, Xinhua reported.

Khaleda, also chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), made the request in a letter written to the Indian prime minister Tuesday in the wake of growing resentment in her country over the recent signing of an agreement for the construction of Tipaimukh dam and a hydroelectric project on a common river Barak in India's Manipur state, said Shimul Biswas, special assistant to Khaleda Zia.

The proposed dam is to be constructed near the confluence of Barak and Tuivai rivers in Manipur and within 100 km of Bangladesh's border.

A pact in this regard was inked Oct 22 among India's National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, or NHPC Ltd, the Manipur state government and another state enterprise Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN) to form a joint venture company to implement the project.

"We think the dam project, if implemented, will be detrimental to Bangladesh but you (India) say there is nothing harmful for us, so we want to send our experts for surveying the entire dam site," Khaleda was quoted as saying in the letter by her assistant.

The proposed project has triggered intense debate among water experts and environmentalists in Bangladesh, following apprehensions that it would dry up the Surma and Kushiara rivers in eastern Bangladesh while casting adverse impact on ecology.

The Bangladeshi government has also urged New Delhi to hold consultations with Dhaka.

"Given the most cordial relations existing between the two countries, Bangladesh would hope that the government of India would share all relevant details of the proposed project in full transparency and also about any further step that it may take in connection with the project," Bangladesh's foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

Khaleda Zia writes to Manmohan over Tipaimukh Dam project | TwoCircles.net

Are the apprehensions genuine or is good Khala Khaleda trying to rope in India into the internal conflicts between the two leading woman politicians of Bangladesh?

I am sure there would have been some technical survey of the whole project before it was decided.

This woman Khaleda is always out to trump the current PM and also put India in a spot every time India tries to improve the relationship with Bangladesh.

 

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Technical Features

The dam will be 390m long and 162.8m high, across the Barak River. The dam's crest elevation will be at an altitude of about 180 m. above mean sea level with a maximum reservoir level of 178 m. The dam was originally designed to contain flood waters in the lower Barak valley but hydro power generation was later incorporated into the project. The project will have an installation capacity of 1500 MW, supplied by six 250 MW Francis turbine-generators.

Controversies

Bangladeshi experts have said the massive dam will disrupt the seasonal rhythm of the river and have an adverse effect on downstream agriculture and fisheries. The government of Bangladesh has decided to send an expert team to the Dam area to examine the features and likely impact of the dam on the flow of water into the Surma and the Kushiara.

Another is the environmental factor. The Tipaimukh area lies in an ecologically sensitive and topographically fragile region. It falls under one of the most seismically volatile regions on the planet. A major earthquake rocked Manipur-Myanmar border in the year August 6, 1988 at the epicenter of lat. 25.130 and long 95.150 and at a magnitude of 6.6 Richter Scale.

What is the opinion of the Indian experts?