Contentious Tipaimukh Dam

In Bangladesh, the protest against India’s Tipaimukh dam reached new heights and newer dimensions. The visiting parliamentary team from Dhaka has reportedly been convinced that the ambitious project will not affect Barak -Meghna river basin and India will take care of Bangladesh’s environmental and other interests. After the parliamentary team from Dhaka concluded satisfactorily their Dam site and Delhi visits organizations like Tipaimukh Dam Prevention Committee and Sylhet Division Development Action Council have called a three day long marathon march towards Tipaimukh Dam area from August 08 to mark a protest considering the economic and environmental impacts on Bangladesh. The organizers are expecting some five lakh protesters would join the long march. In India’s Assam and Manipur, people’s protest is also rising against the ambitious project. (Read my related post on ASI Blog, All for Water: India, Bangladesh Row over Water Sharing Intensifies).

I had the oppurtunity to interview four experts who have expressed concern over the possible environmental impacts of the Tipaimukh Dam. They are:

1.Himansu Thakkar, Editor, Dams, Rivers & People, India.
2.Muhammad Hilaluddin, Coordinator, National Tipaimukh Dam Resistance Committee, Bangladesh.
3.Soibam Ibotombi Singh, Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Manipur University, India.
4.Ramananda Wangkheirakpam, Coordinator, Citizen’s Concern for Dams and Development; North East People’s Alliance, India

Ibotombi Singh:

Manipur has a seismically active and tectonically young mountain chain. So construction of large dams are practically dangerous. Because in the event of a dam failure, there could be frightening disasters killing thousands of people downstream including Bangladesh. So there are ample valid reasons to be worried. And such scale of possible disaster may be scaled down by careful designing and modification of structures without much compromising on the benefits of the project. For example in the case of Tipaimukh Dam, the instal capcity is 2500MW while steady power generation is hardly 450 MW. Such a power generation can be made by making 2 or 3 smaller dams in different parts of the catchment. By doing so we believe the magnitude of possible disaster can be scaled down.

Thakkar:

The fear of serious downstream impacts is well founded, but the nature and quantum would depend on many factors, including, the way the dam is operated. Even a hydroelectric project like Tipaimukh which is not an irrigation project can have pretty serious downstream impacts.

Wangkheirakpam:

The fear of desertification may not be well founded but more water in winter than normal which will not allow agriculture and that will destroy the wetlands, fisheries etc in Bangladesh. One fear from Norteast India is that there will be environment induced migration from Bangladesh and Tipaimukh might contribute to it.

Hilaluddin:

The Haor wetlands of the Northeastern Bangladesh which engulfs about 1/6th portion of the country will face water logging due to the water level difference in the rivers in late monsoon. And the single crop Haor cultivation will be at peril. The whole ecosystem and the rich biodiversity will be impaired. The Barak-Meghna ecosystem will get colossal hit from the Tipaimukh dam and mainly due to artificial blockade of sedimentary flow and free movement of fish from the origin of Barak. Again, the 534 feet high and 1300 feet long Tipaimukh dam along with its huge reservoir will become a soft target in any future major earthquake threatening unimaginable catastrophic consequences especially for the downstream districts of Bangladesh.

I have published one In Depth report on the issue, based on these experts viewpoints and my overall understanding. You may read the complete report at the ISN Securty Watch website India, Bangladesh: Dam Diplomacy (August 04, 2009).

Also, couple of great opinion/editorial pieces on the Tipaimukh Dam project and water sharing issue between two neighboring countries (Read full text at the given links):

B.G.Verghese, former editor of Indian Express writes in the New Delhi based Daily, Straight talk on Barak,” (Indian Express, August 06, 2009). 

There is every reason for the two countries to cooperate in developing the potential of their common rivers and in confronting the common challenge of climate change. Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable and has more to lose from non-cooperation and in hardening negative mindsets.

Nazrul Islam, a former Professor of Economics (Dhaka University) writes in the Daily Star,“Information Please” (August 05, 2009 ).

These diversionary projects of India go against the international norms regarding sharing of international rivers. In particular, they violate Bangladesh’s right to prior and customary use of river water. The entire economy and life in Bangladesh have evolved on the basis of rivers. Any major change in the flow of these rivers is, therefore, seriously disruptive for Bangladesh. Furthermore, river intervention structures affect the flow of sediments, which are vital for deltaic Bangladesh, which is facing submergence by rising sea level caused by global warming.

Posted by Animesh Roul on August 10, 2009. Respond »

All for Water: India, Bangladesh Row over Water Sharing Intensifies

Many vexed and controversial issues ranging from cross-border militancy to river water sharing, have been creating concern for both India and Bangladesh. For now, the most contentious among them is the construction of Tipaimukh Dam over the Barak River (in Manipur, India), which has given rise to a diplomatic ‘war of words’ and many grassroots and people’s movements against the project in both neighbouring countries.

Both countries have had a strain ties over the sharing of the Ganges waters (Farakka Barrage) in the past.

Barak River, originating from Manipur Hills, flows west-ward through Mizoram and Assam while merges into the Meghna River in Bangladesh (in Sylhet district) afterwards.

Early in July, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has indicated that a team of experts would visit the dam site before discussing the issue with India and for any future political measures. The perception prevails in Bangladesh is that India is carrying out the Dam project without consulting its neighbor which is the lower riparian state. Dipu Moni said:

“If the…Tipaimukh dam go(es) against the interest of Bangladesh, we will do whatever is needed to protect our (national) interests”.

Moni has rebuked Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty late last month when the India’s envoy had called environmentalists opposing the Tipaimukh dam project as “so-called experts” and “no international law exists to restrict India’s project”. Chakravarti’s comments in a Dhaka seminar in late June created uproar in Bangladesh. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) demanded immediate withdrawal of Chakravarty as envoy for interfering in Bangladesh’s internal affairs. His comments also triggered protests outside the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

India’s argument is that since Tipaimukh dam would be used for power generation (hydro-electric multi-purpose project) and not for irrigational purposes, this dam would not cause any harm to Bangladesh. India expects to generate 1500 megawatt of hydropower from the project. However, the other barrage at Fulertal on the Barak for irrigation purpose invites more attention for future environmental and economical repercussions on Bangladesh.

Experts and many civil society bodies in Bangladesh believe that the Tipaimukh Dam will turn the country (as lower riparian state) into a desert, as the proposed Dam will restrict water flow downstream. They fear that the Dam (slated to be completed by 2012) will dry up the Surma and the Kushiara rivers, affecting the whole north-eastern regions of Bangladesh. There are also widespread opposition exists on Indian side (in Manipur and Mizoram) as many civil society organizations (e.g. Action Committee Against Tipaimukh Dam) have opposed vehemently the construction of the Dam.

A section of the present Dhaka administration still believes that India’s plan for hydro-power generation could benefit the country. Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina is quite optimistic for an amicable resolution of the Dam issue with India through talks. The Foreign Minister Dipu Moni however, urged India recently to suspend construction of the dam till an impact assessment is over.

Posted by Animesh Roul on July 9, 2009. Respond »