Dhaka wants more data
Bangladesh on Saturday asked India not to go ahead with the construction of its controversial Tipaimukh Dam before completion of a joint study, officials said.
It also requested India at a sub-group meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission to provide more data and study reports on the controversial dam it planned to build on
the trans-boundary river Borak above Bangladesh.
The two-day meeting of the sub-group of Bangladesh-India JRC ended in Dhaka on Saturday.
It would require at least two years to complete the study by a joint team, they said.
Dhaka asked Delhi to provide more information and data on the water flow of the Borak to assess the possible negative impacts of the planned dam on the common river on
lower riparian Bangladesh, they said.
‘We asked for additional data about the Borak flow and some technical information to assess the impact of the planned dam,’ said Bangladesh team leader and JRC
member Mir Sajjad Hossain.
He said that India took note of the Bangladesh position.
It was the second meeting of the joint group formed last year to study the various possible impacts of the proposed dam on livelihood, biodiversity, fisheries and
agriculture in lower riparian Bangladesh.
The next meeting of the joint group would be held in India at a mutually convenient date, said officials.
The Indian delegation was led by NK Mathur, commissioner (Ganga), water resources ministry of India and a JRC member.
The meeting noted that Bangladesh government engaged the Institute of Water Modelling for mathematical modeling of all the relevant aspects of the proposed dam
including hydrological and hydrodynamic, morphology, salinity and probable hazards; and Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services for impact
assessment on hydrology, morphology, agriculture, fisheries, navigation, livelihoods, ecosystem etc, according to a joint press release.
The IWM and CEGIS while presenting the technical aspects of their inception reports sought more data and technical reports from the Indian side to carry out the tasks,
but India took time on security grounds to provide such data and technical reports, said officials.
The Indian government took the plan to build the controversial dam on the River Borak, which splits into the Surma and Kushiara rivers in Sylhet on entering into
Bangladesh.
River experts and environmentalists in both Bangladesh and India expressed deep concern about the planned Tipaimukh Dam, and said it would spell disaster in lowewr
riparian Bangladesh, particularly in its Meghna basin.
They said the dam, if built, would play havoc with life and livelihood of millions in Sylhet region.
On October, 22, 2011, the Indian government entered into a joint investment contract for building the controversial dam.
-With New Age input
