Indias Water War against Bangladesh
Delhi goes ahead with Tipaimukh dam
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River sutras :The river interlinking project is another disaster waiting to happen
While India was busy watching the dismal performance of its over-rated cricket team, Dharaji a small pilgrim town in Madhya Pradesh was counting the dead. Nearly 70 bodies stuck in crevices between rocks and boulders were retrieved. But many were washed away by the torrent of water that the Indira Sagar dam of the Narmada series released to generate more power at peak hours. The dam authorities knew about the pilgrims bathing downstream. There was no warning system. Yet the turbines had to be run at full speed to meet the demand.
An inquiry has been ordered and the district magistrate transferred. The media has gone quiet because the tragedy has ceased to be news. Is it negligence or a part of pressure exerted all over to reap maximum benefits from government projects, whatever the costs? In such an atmosphere even normal safety precautions are not strictly followed. For the result-oriented end, the means do not matter. Maybe, the existing projects of the Narmada are working overtime because only a few days ago the Supreme Court observed in a judgment that no submergence of any area should take place unless the displaced were completely rehabilitated. In other words, the additional height to the main Narmada dam should be ruled out until the oustees were settled. True, people in Gujarat were anxious to have more water and more power. But they have always upheld the principle of rehabilitating the uprooted before moving them from their homes and lands. The Narmada Tribunal Award had laid down this many years ago.
Now that the myth of the Bhakra dam, an icon in the developmental history of independent India, has been exploded through a study it is time to find out how to have more water and power from the Narmada without increasing the dams height. The Bhakra dam study points out what really helped Punjab and Haryana was not the water from Bhakra but the groundwater systems and extensively developed agriculture. The dam commands only 20 per cent of the total cultivable area in Punjab and 31 per cent in Haryana. And even after 50 years, the displaced are still struggling to put their lives back on line
How will Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra take care of the backlog of the 50,000 uprooted families from the Narmada area when there is no extra land available in these states? The Tehri dam victims are the worst sufferers because neither UP nor the Centre is sympathetic to their cause. True, at the time of building Bhakra, we did not know how gigantic projects could cause more harm than good. But before embarking on the Narmada and Tehri, we should have learnt from our mistakes. Big dams were not necessary and we could have got water, power and controlled floods through smaller dams at a lesser cost. The Narmada has already cost Rs 17,000 crore and we still have a long way to go.
A still bigger disaster is awaiting us on the river interlinking project. I thought it was only at the concept stage, but apparently it has become a project without any discussion in the country. The very idea of a surplus or a deficit basin needs another look. We should examine whether a projected deficit is the result of bad water management and unsustainable demands. Even in the states that are presumed to be water-rich for example, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh there are problem areas. Surpluses, if any, should perhaps be first used in those states rather than sent to distant places. This gives all the more importance to the meeting to discuss the river interlinking project at Delhi on May 11. President Kalam is going to be there when top engineers, specialists, scientists and civil servants will be debating the pros and cons of the project. Let us put our heads together to find out the pluses and minuses of the project. A consensus is important because hundreds of crores of rupees would be required if the government were to take up the project.
This takes me to a larger question: whether the cost of development is in proportion to the loss from deprivation. I do not want to sound negative. But every gain has to be judged from the larger good it does. The touchstone should be how far a project thinks of the good of all. For example, displacing thousands from their homes to build plazas or malls cannot be termed as progress. There is also the question of environment that the Centre overlooks and which even the Supreme Court takes in its stride. How do the 90,000 families in Mumbai, still on the roadside, view the buildings that are going to come up at the expense of their houses? State power in a democratic system comes out of a process of competitive politics. Consequently, if it is identified too closely with narrow interests, it is bound to generate alienation and hostility in other groups.
It is no more a cliche that the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. The globalisation and economic reforms have primarily benefited the rich. The Manmohan Singh government should find out who has cornered the gains in the last one decade. In 1960, Jawaharlal Nehru appointed P.C. Mahalanobis, a Planning Commission member, to determine where the funds had gone and to ascertain the extent to which wealth and means of production had tended to concentrate. The Mahalanobis inquiry showed that companies having a paid-up capital of Rs 50 lakh and above constituted only 1.6 per cent of the total number of companies but accounted for 53 per cent of the total paid-up capital.
The remedy may well be in what Mahatma Gandhi suggested as far back as in November 1928: everybody should be able to get sufficient work to enable him to make the two ends meet. And this ideal can be universally realised only if the means of production of the elementary necessaries of life remain in the control of the masses. These should be freely available to all as Gods air and water are or ought to be.
http://iecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_...ontent_id=69099
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India trying to withdraw water from Feni River
India is trying to withdraw water from Feni River for irrigation 14 projects in exchange of resolving erosion problem in Bangladesh side of this bordering river, sources in the WDB (Water Development Board) informed.
If Bangladesh does not allow implementing its projects centering Feni River, India may not continue the current talks on the erosion problem of the river. India wants Bangladesh should allow India to implement its 14 projects on Feni River. India in exchange will help Bangladesh resolve river erosion on the Bangladesh side.
Bangladeshi river experts apprehend, if Indian irrigation plans using the water of Feni River are implemented Uttar Fatikchhari, Shuvapur, Sonagazi and Mirrershari of Bangladesh will turn into desert. As a result, Bangladesh will have to abandon its largest Muhuri Irrigation Project and environment of the entire area will be totally ruined.
To implement its irrigation, other than a bank-protection dam, projects India plans to install high-powered pumps to withdraw water from Feni River through pipes having 36-inchdiameter, sources informed.
India has already completed all preparations for constructing a 50-feet deep pump-house and 200-feet long reservoir, including supply-line. India also allocated Seven 700 million for the project.
The Union government of India undertook another project to construct a bank-protection dam in Indian side of the river from from Amarpur Subdivision of Tripura State to Amlighat of Subrum.
India initiated to construct the dam very quickly three years back, in July 2003. But Bangladesh deterred Indian effort in Amlighat area. Since then the work of the dam remains suspended. This dam if constructed will cause serious erosion on Bangladesh side.
As retaliatory measure, India violating international norms does not allow Bangladesh to construct bank-protection dam in Bangladesh side of the Feni River, though the dam will not cause erosion in Indian side.
As a result, Bangladesh cannot complete its uncompleted bank-protection dam in different points of Fatikchhari, Ramgar and Matiranga areas. More than 15 thousand hectares of Bangladeshi land have already eroded in these areas for want of protection dam, sources informed.
Sources alleged, India constructed groynes and other structures and still throws stones on its side of the river that aggravates erosion in Bangladesh side further.
India now attaches a precondition that Bangladesh first should allow India to withdraw water from Feni River for its 14 irrigation projects. Then India will sit for talks how Bangladesh can implement its uncompleted bank-protection dam.
Bangladesh raised the issue during talks in Indo-Bangladesh JRC (Joint River Commission) meetings. The issue was also discussed in water minister-level talks held in Dhaka on September 19 and 20 in 2006. India repeatedly assured to solve the problem, but it persists till date.
http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=...08&Itemid=2
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Ganges flow hit low in January
Bangladesh received less quantity of Ganges water at Hardinge bridge point during the three cycles of January against its indicative share as per the Water Sharing Treaty signed with India in 1996, reports BSS. Bangladesh received 55,864 cusec, 43,099 cusec and 42,863 cusec water respectively during the first, second and third 10- day cycles in January at Hardinge Bridge point against the indicative shares of 67,516 cusec, 57,673 cusec and 50,154 cusec respectively, Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) press release said here today.
The flow of the Ganges at Farakka during the first cycle (January 1-10) was 77,966 cusec, during the second cycle (Jan 11- 20) was 73,141 cusec and during the third cycle (Jan 21-31) was 70,037 cusec and Bangladesh received 37,966, 35,000 and 35,000 cusec of water respectively during these three cycles, the press release added.
According to the treaty, Bangladesh and India are entitled to get an equal share of water when the availability will be 70,000 cusec or below that level at Farakka during dry season from January 1 to May 31 every year. And when the flow will be over 70,000 cusec but not more than 75,000 cusec, then Bangladesh will get 35,000 cusec water and the rest will go to India. And when the flow will be over 75,000 cusec India will get 40,000 cusecs of water and Bangladesh will get the rest of the flow.
However, according to the "Guarantee Clause" of the treaty, in every alternative circle, Bangladesh and India will get minimum of 35,000 cusec of water from March 11 to May 10 period annually.In compliance with the rule, Bangladesh will get 35,000 cusec of water during March 11-20, April 1-10 and April 21-30 cycles while India would get 35,000 cusec of water during March 21-31, April 11-20 and May 1-10 cycles, the sources said.
The News Today
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Shoptokoshi Dam
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Indian Tipaimukh dam to be death trap for Bangladesh:Bangladeshis fear that the dam could be used for diverting waters of the Meghna River
Experts at a views-exchange meeting on Saturday said Bangladesh would suffer from serious water crisis due to Indias Tipaimukh dam construction project.International Farakka Committee (IFC) organised the meeting in the citys National Press Club, where Professor Moniruzzaman Miah and former secretary and president of Bangladesh Water Partnership Secretariat Quamrul Islam Siddique spoke.
Editor of The New Nation Mostafa Kamal Majumder presided over the views-exchange meeting, while secretary general of IFC Syed Tipu Sultan described important points in the programme.Environmental expert Syed Tipu Sultan said India has decided to implement a hydro-electric power project in the name of Tipaimukh Dam on the international river Borak.
Indian government got permission from their higher authorities to construct the dam, which would severely damage the river system, livelihood and biodiversity of Bangladesh, as well as two countries, in gross violation of human rights, said Syed Tipu Sultan.
He said as a large country, India is upper-riparian country, whereas Bangladesh is lower, but Bangladesh has the right to get its water share from those international rivers.Thousands of Bangladeshis fear that the dam could be used for diverting waters of the Meghna River, which turned northeast into wasteland, Sultan mentioned.
Describing the adverse effects of the Farakka Barrage, Professor Moniruzzaman Miah said the Surma and the Kushiara rivers would dry up if Tipaimukh dam was constructed in the upper-riparian Indian part.
He said Bangladesh and India would work together towards common goals as neighbouring countries, adding, India already constructed a number of multipurpose dams and barrages on common rivers with Bangladesh and their tributaries.
The experts and activists termed the construction of the Tipaimukh dam as environmental annihilation and people of the two countries would resist the work. Thousands of protesters would gather next year for protesting the construction work.
Quamrul Islam Siddique said river flows would be drastically reduced, if India would implement the Tipaimukh project.He suggested that Bangladesh and Indian governments would talk further as a bilateral issue. Direction should come from the diplomatic arena for resolving the destruction of environment of Bangladesh.India had been continuously constructing dams and barrages on trans-boundary rivers and their tributaries flowing into Bangladesh, he said.
He mentioned that Bangladesh would urgently negotiate with India, formulate a regional water-sharing treaty and raise the issue with international forums like the World Bank and the United Nations, as the Tipaimukh dam located in a seismically active area of Bangladesh.
Editor of The New Nation Mostafa Majumder said every one would come forward to stop one-sided Indian decision and impacts on Bangladeshs environment due to the construction of the Tipaimukh dam.He warned that Bangladesh was bound to lose its riverine characteristics if India continued to construct dams on common rivers. Wetlands in greater Sylhet districts would dry up, he said.
The three main river systems in lower riparian BangladeshGanges, Brahmaputra and Meghna the Meghna is considered a major lifeline, Surma and Kushiyara get water from Borak.
http://www.newstoday-bd.com/international....=2/11/2007#1134
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Tipaimukh dam
SPEAKERS, at a discussion meeting held in the city the other day by the International Farakka Committee, came out with a specific suggestion that the interim government in no way should take any move to buy electricity from India because it would ultimately create an excuse for the neighbouring country to go ahead with its proposed project of constructing dams unilaterally over the common border rivers. The speakers warned the government of the consequences and also underlined the immediate need for raising strong protest in the international forum against India's proposed dams for generating hydroelectricity that would, ultimately, destroy ecological balance in the region including Bangladesh. Energy-starved India has a plan to sell its surplus electricity to Bangladesh and that would facilitate its carrying out the dam projects on the trans-boundary rivers. In view of all these the interim government's assertion to import power from India as disclosed by its energy adviser for meeting emergency shortage sounds to be absurd so far our country's overall interest is concerned.
The Indian government's move to construct a dam over the border river Barak at Tipaimukh in the Indian state of Manipur poses serious threat to our country, as it would endanger biodiversity in the greater Sylhet region and the lives of the people. Available reports reveal that the Tipaimukh dam at the upstream of the Barak river that flows to Bangladesh as the River Meghna has been designed to produce 1500MW electricity as part of its target of increasing power generation to almost double from 1.20 lakh MW to 2.40 lakh MW by 2020. According to recent press reports, defying all international norms applicable for common border rivers and repeated requests and protests from Bangladesh government, the Indian authorities are going ahead with the controversial project of constructing the dam at Tipaimukh.
Even the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission, better known as JRC, that was formed as early as in 1972 for sharing water of the common border rivers could not be involved and made effective in this regard to restrain the neighbouring country from constructing the dam. India's move of going alone for extracting benefit for itself denying the legitimate rights of the co-riparian countries has caused grave concern to Bangladesh afresh for the Tipaimukh dam project for the disastrous consequences in the coming days almost in the backdrop of immense sufferings caused by similar acts like constructing barrages over the Ganges and the Teesta rivers. The origin of most of our common border rivers is in India and it has already worked out a massive river-linking project exclusively forunilateral use of the water of the common rivers without considering the adverse consequences to others. If the proposed 182-metre high dam collapses in an earthquake many areas in our country will be submerged with sudden rush of water. The interim government may immediately take up the issue with the Indian government.
http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_34096.shtml
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Tepaimukh Dam: anotherFarakka for Bangladesh
Muhammad Afsar Ali Farajee
My attention was drawn to a news item published in an English daily under the headline "Govt. must resist construction of Tepaimukh Dam". It has been stated in the news item that the water experts of our country including former secretary Kamrul Islam Siddique have urged the Government to resist construction of Tepaimukh Dam. International Farakka Committee organised a meeting at the Jatiya Press Club recently in this regard.
The people of the Indian state of Monipur are vehemently resisting the construction of Tepaimukh Dam anticipating perilous impact on the life and living. To quote the news item, "Tepaimukh Hydro-Electric project was cleared by the Indian Supreme Court as part of their river-linking project (IRLP). But Bangladesh has not taken any step to resist construction of the project, Kamrul Islam said."
Kamrul Islam also alleged that our government has indirectly extended support to the Tepaimukh Dam by agreeing to the regional power grid project. Dam on Barak River at Tepaimukh will obstruct natural flow of water down to the Meghna. The water experts said that the government should take effective steps to resist construction of Tepaimukh Dam that will prove to be another Farakka Barrage on the east south region of the country.
In 1974, India started trial run of the Farakka Barrage. We are fully aware of the adverse effects of the Farakka Barrage on our agriculture, fishery, navigation, irrigation, climate change and even our ecology. During the dry season the river Teesta, is practically a dead river. As there is no water, there is no fish, no irrigation and no navigational facilities. Many of the fishermen of the Testa basin are deprived of their age-old traditional livelihood. This is due to construction of a Dam at Gazaldoba on the river Testa.
I want to tell the peace loving people of the world that India is always diverting waters of many international rivers for her self-interest jeopardising the interests of her neighbouring country Bangladesh which is a lower riparian country. Farakka will not help save the Kolkata port from ruination; within the next 50/100 years Kolkata port will die.
There are 54 common international rivers like the Padma, the Brahmaputra, the Teesta, the Mahananda, the Gorai, and others that enter into Bangladesh after flowing through Indian territory and discharge their waters in the Bay of Bengal.
It may be mentioned here that India and Pakistan signed Indus Water Treaty in 1960 under the auspices of the World Bank. Water right is a fundamental human right but India is always violating international laws and conventions by unilateral withdrawal/diversion of waters from these international rivers. As per international law India can not do so. It is nothing but the big-brotherly attitude towards her small neighbour. In her own interest India should change her wrong attitude. We expect a good equal brotherly attitude from India, not big-brotherly attitude.
We should try to mould world public opinion regarding our just water rights on all the 54 common international rivers for Bangladesh. I appeal to our government to resist construction of Tepaimukh Dam. The government should also try to conclude treaty for sharing waters of the 54 common international rivers with India.
HOLIDAY > EDITORIAL
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It depends on regional cooperation on transboundary water issues
Fritz Meijindert
It is a great pleasure for me to say a few words on the Netherland's contribution to water management in Bangladesh. As many of you know, our country has a lot in common with Bangladesh, as both countries are low-lying river deltas. The famous French general Napoleon Bonaparte once said that the Netherlands was not much more than sediment from main river system. Well, he was right. We did work a bit on the sediment, I must add. The Netherlands is a man-made country, which requires water management 24 hours a day. I would like to tell you a bit more about the Dutch experience in water management. Then I will say a few words on how this could help Bangladesh in the efforts to reach the Millenium Development Goals on poverty reduction.
Our active engagement with water goes back centuries. The country has learnt not only to battle against extreme floods, but also to optimize agriculture activities by adapting its water system. It has been possible to maintain and improve this system of dikes and canals mainly thanks to local water boards that have existed for some six hundred years. These water boards constitute a functional management organisation, as part of the local administration. The local community and landowners were dependent on each other for maintaining the system of waterworks. The fact that when a single individual did not cooperate, all other individuals suffered, led to the creation of a society in which working together became essential. This laid the basis for an early kind of democratic society in the Netherlands. Nowadays it is called stakeholder participation.
The old small-scale water boards of the nineteenth century have give way to a more modern water management system in the Netherlands. This Institutional reform process, which is taking place within the Bangladesh Water development Board, also took place in the Netherlands. The number of these local water boards in the Netherlands has gone from 1,000 to 57 over a 400-year period. What has remained the same is that the representatives are still elected through direct popular vote. One could argue that the emergence of local water boards in the Netherlands has directly on indirectly contributed to the democratic evolution of the country.
Switching from the Netherlands to Bangladesh, your Government has realised the importance of decentralization of water management. It adopted the Guidelines for Participatory Water Management in 2003. Various programs, financed jointly by the government of Bangladesh and its development partners, are actively operationalising these guideline, by setting up and empowering water management organisations at the lowest possible level. The Bangladesh Water Board is making encouraging progress, but more needs to be done to internalise this approach. Also, the Board needs to translate its commitment to participatory approaches in the right skill mix of the staff, in training budgets and in the required flexibility of block allocations.
We strongly believe that the reform of the water board from centralized technocratic management towards decentralized people's management is a crucial development - not only for effective water management, but also to strengthen the foundations for an accountable political system.
There is no need reminding you that water is hugely important for Bangladesh. Water determines to a large extent weather you will achieve the Millenium Development Goals. I would like to make two propositions.
1: Achievement of the MDGs in Bangladesh depends on regional cooperation on transboundary water issues
Since water is one of the most important natural resources of the region, it is absolutely critical that this resource is developed and managed in a national, efficient and equitable way. Only then it could act as the engine for socio-economic development of the region. Thus, a cooperation framework for the region that is technically possible, economically efficient, socially desirable, politically acceptable, institutionally feasible, and environmentally sound, is now even more essential than ever before. It is worth mentioning some examples of the win-win scenarios in this regards: the improvement of the regional flood forecasting and warning system can significantly mitigate the flood damages; there are great prospects for hydropower, if dealt with in a multilateral way; and, finally, dredging the Jamuna river- starting at Assam- could greatly enhance transport capacity for goods to be shipped from Assam to Kolkata. My government is strongly in favour of concrete activities of regional co-operation, be at political, technical level or at the level of dialogue between civil societies of Bangladesh and its neighbours.
2: Achievement of the MDGs depend on the government making water management a higher priority.
The government of Bangladesh approved the National Water Management Plan in 2004, as its overall plan to mange the country's water resources. The Ministry of Water Resources together with other key ministries should operationalise this vital document and make it the instrument for achieving the MDGs.
Two basic ingredients are necessary here:
First, political commitment. Water needs to be right at the top of our national and international political agendas. That doesn't mean producing more paper, but doing what we agreed to do together, under the leadership of the Ministry of Water Resources. It requires leadership and ownership from the government, reflected by, among other things, increasing rather decreasing budget allocations.
Secondly, shared responsibilities, we all have a role to pay and we must all work together. This applies to various departments within government, such as the BWDB and LGED, who can build on the MOU that they concluded last year. Moreover governments cannot do it all on their own. We need genuine partnerships with other actors as well. NGOs as well as the private sector can and must play an important role. As a representative from a donor country and as a friend of Bangladesh, I sincerely hope that the people in this country will take on the challenge. We are ready to assist in these efforts. We are already spending some 20 million dollars per year on assistance to water- related activities in Bangladesh. Together with the World Bank, we have committed to funding the Water Management Improvement Project, which unfortunately has still not been approved by the Bangladesh government (speaking of political commitment!).
Let me reiterate here that we are not planning to withdraw from the sector. On the contrary. At the same time, I underline that the time of bilateral projects is over. The future lies in multi-agency programmes, if necessary funded by consortia of multiple donors. This so-called Sectorwide Approach will eventually be followed in he water sector, just as it already is in the health and education sectors. Sectorwide approaches allow for scaling up efforts to a level that would not be attainable otherwise. Also, it makes for a harmonized delivery of assistance among donors. In my conviction, it offers great opportunities for the government, provided it is willing and able to adapt to this new reality.
The above is a speech by Fritz Meijindert, Head of Development Cooperation, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh .
HOLIDAY > ENVIRONMENT & ADVOCACY
May u Please throw some light on it.
and hope the best of Natural amenities for Mother Earth's tenants.
