Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad on Saturday said the people of Bangladesh would not allow India to construct the Tipaimukh dam on the River Barak because it would spell disaster downstream and turn Sylhet into a desert. \u2018India has turned the country\u2019s northern region into a desert by constructing the Farakka Barrage and now it is planning to turn Sylhet into a desert. But Jatiya Party and the people of Bangladesh would not accept the Indian government\u2019s unilateral decision to construct the Tipaimukh dam,\u2019 Erhsad said.
\nHe was addressing a rally on the Sylhet Government Alia Madrassah ground in the city in the afternoon after leading a \u2018long march\u2019 from Dhaka towards the frontier town of Zakiganj to protest at New Delhi\u2019s move to go ahead with the controversial project to build a dam on Barak river which feeds Surma, Kushiyara and Meghna rivers downstream.
\nExpressing his gratitude for India\u2019s active support to the liberation war of Bangladesh, the JP chairman asked New Delhi not to back away from the commitment it had made during prime minister Manmohan Singh\u2019s visit to Bangladesh.
\n\u2018India has violated the laws on international rivers by initiating a move unilaterally to build the Tipaimukh dam,\u2019 Ershad said, adding that the Indian government
\nshould consult Bangladesh and conduct a joint survey before taking the move.
\nThe JP chairman said that his party\u2019s campaign against the proposed Tipaimukh dam was aimed at protecting the interest of the countrymen, not for political gains.
\n\u2018We have come here not to seek vote but to protect the right and interest of the people of this region and the country,\u2019 Ershad said.
\nHe said the Tipaimukh issue had become a national issue and urged all other political parties to sit for a discussion to make a unanimous decision on it.
\nJP\u2019s Sylhet divisional coordinator Atiqur Rahman Atiq presided the rally addressed, among others, by the party\u2019s presidium member Kazi Zafar Ahmed, secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Hawladar, Kazi Firoz Rashid, lawmakers Mujibul Haq Chunnu, Salma Islam, Fazle Rabbi and Lily Chowdhury, Faysal Chisti, organising secretary Abdullah Siddiquee, Swechchhasebak Party president Golam Habib Dulal, Luthfur Rahman Chowdhury Helal and SM Alam.
\nThe caravan will resume its journey towards Zakiganj, some 100 kilometres from Sylhet city, where a rally will be held after the long march, the party sources said.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad on Saturday said the people of Bangladesh would not allow India to construct the Tipaimukh dam on the River Barak because it would spell disaster downstream and turn Sylhet into a desert. \u2018India has turned the country\u2019s northern region into a desert by constructing the Farakka Barrage and now it … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[7269,209,225,5014,275,5314,7268,7267,5227,5012,7385,7263,7266,5313,7265,7264],"yoast_head":"\n