JS standing committee on water ministry decides: High-powered all-party team to visit Tipaimukh

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources Ministry yesterday decided to send a team to India to visit the much-talked-about construction of Tipaimukh Dam on the river barak in Bangladesh’s upstream.
“An all-party parliamentary team, headed by the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on Water Resources Ministry, will go to India to witness the Tipaimukh project and conduct spot assessment of its possible impacts on Bangladesh,” Abdur Razzaq, the committee chairman, told reporters after a meeting at the parliament building.
“The team will also include experts of the Ministry concerned as well as experts from outside,” he said adding “We want to include some impartial expert.”
The committee, however, is yet to fix the size of the committee and the date of the trip.
“The committee will not be of more than 10 parliament members. Two opposition MPs working with the standing committee will also be there,” Abdur Razzak said.
“If all together see the matter, it’ll be seen correctly and can be spoken correctly before the people,” said the senior Awami League leader, also former Water Resources Minister.
He once again blamed the previous BNP-led government and its minister Hafiz Uddin Ahmed for agreeing with India on the Tipaimukh Dam. The Indian government initiated in 2003 construction of the Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River which has entered Bangladesh through Surma, the key source of water going to hundreds of water bodies and rivers in the greater Sylhet region.
“We have come to know that the hydro-electric project (Tipaimukh Dam) went ahead as per the discussion with the resolutions of Joint River Commission in New Delhi in 2003,” Razzaq claimed.
“Then the water resources minister major Hafiz led the JRC talks. They had said nothing then, (but) now he is very vocal,” he said.
“He could have informed the nation about the project at that time,” said the chairman. Replying to a question about the date of visit to Tipaimukh, Razzak said the matter would be conveyed to the Prime Minister for her approval. Also, it needs government approval.
Furthermore, the matter of the spot-observation trip will have to be discussed with the Indian side for their team to reciprocate in this regard so that the two teams can visit Tipaimukh together. “As a result, the observation would be useful,” he added.
Replying to a question over the start of construction work on the contentious Tipaimukh dam on the common river Barak, he said none should speak about the matter without knowing.
“We have no information that they (India) have started the construction work. On behalf of them (India), it has been told that the work has not started,” he said.
Razzak said the team would submit its report after visiting the spot and the recommendations would be sent to the prime minister’s office.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina last month announced that a parliamentary team would go to India to witness the controversial project.
The Indian authorities proposed Bangladesh sending a parliamentary team apparently to allay Dhaka’s fear of environmental catastrophe in the Sylhet region.
The environmentalists in Bangladesh have held many talks on the adverse impact of the proposed dam. They say the dam would dry up the river and the water bodies in the downstream, leaving millions jobless.
Chaired by Abdur Razzak, the meeting was attended by Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader, M Abdur Rahman, AKM Fazlul Huq, Abdullah Al Islam Jacob and AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad.
Water Resources Secretary Sheikh M Wahidzzaman and secretaries of the Ministries concerned were also present at the meeting.
Razzak said, the meeting also discussed progress of Ganga barrage-a mega-project planned by Bangladesh for preserving natural water to offset scanty flow down the Ganges from the upper riparian in lean period.

Courtesy of The New Nation