Thaindian News

Dhaka, Nov 23 (IANS) 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.