India assures Bangladesh on Tipaimukh.

[DarK-LorD]

India assures Bangladesh on Tipaimukh.
TNN | Dec 3, 2011, 05.28AM IST

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to assuage apprehensions in Bangladesh, India on Friday stressed it would not take any steps on Tipaimukh dam that would adversely affect the neighbouring country.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave this assurance to Gowher Rizvi and Mashiur Rahman, advisers to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, after meeting them this afternoon. In a statement, MEA said, "The Prime Minister reiterated the assurance he had given to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his visit to Bangladesh in September, 2011, that India will not take steps on Tipaimukh project that will adversely affect Bangladesh."

Rizvi and Rahman raised the Tipaimukh issue because it has grown to become a touchy political subject in Bangladesh. Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia of BNP has been spearheading the protests on the issue.

Last week, Zia even wrote to Singh on the subject. In his response to Zia's letter, the PM wrote back to her that India would not do anything to undermine the interests of Bangladesh.

The MEA spokesman said Indian government had told the Bangladesh government it was ready to hold discussions on the Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project. Earlier, Bangladesh had sent a 10-member delegation of political leaders to India to discuss the issue. The Bangladeshi politicians had visited the Tipaimukh project site in 2009, and were apparently convinced that it would not hurt Dhaka's interests.

The recent spate of protests has been fuelled by reports that India has signed a "promoters agreement" to form a joint venture company for the dam. This triggered concerns in Bangladesh that the proposed 1,500 MW project being constructed on Barak river would starve Bangladesh of water not only on the Barak river but its biggest river, Meghna.

Hasina's advisers also met power minister Sushil Shinde, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram and water resources minister.

India assures Bangladesh on Tipaimukh - The Times of India

 

[Abhishek_]

we have nothing to gain by antagonizing BD and GOI must do everything to accomodate them.

 

[Zabaniyah]

mmm...the dam is risky considering the area is prone to earthquakes.

 

[monitor]

Bitter Truth
Tipaimukh Dam: Bane or boon?
Md. Asadullah Khan

The unilateral Indian move to construct a dam at Manipur to regulate flow of the river Barak and generate electricity, despite opposition from upstream state Manipur and downstream country Bangladesh, has been made without any discussion with the government of Bangladesh as required by international law on common rivers.

S. Dhanbir, Co-ordinator of North East Forum Dialogue, contended that the proponents of the Tipaimukh hydroelectric power project are yet to conduct a detailed and independent Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), which is required under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 of India and its amendment in 1994, where data should encompass information collected over at least one year to assess the likely impact on the ecology, environment and wild life population at the site itself and both up and downstream.

In 2007, North Eastern Electric Power Corp. commissioned the Agricultural Finance Corporation of Mumbai to carry out an EIA of the Tipaimukh dam. The Environment section of the EIA noted in its report: "Average water availability at downstream for monsoon season at post-dam condition will decrease by 30% in comparison to pre-dam condition and thereby will provide relief to downstream populations from recurring flood havoc," validating concerns about reduced water flow.

Brac University vice-chancellor and water expert Professor Ainun Nishat has rightly observed that Tipaimukh dam could play a role for Bangladesh if it was a joint project and managed in line with Bangladesh's requirements. He commented: "We know neither their construction plan nor their management plan." He adds: "Without exchange of data regarding the impact of the dam on ecology, environment, fishery, wildlife, and most spectacularly on the life and living of the people living upstream and downstream of the dam, any assessment done by India will be incomplete and one-sided." Other experts have asked: "What will happen if the gates have to be opened when there is a big rise in water level in the reservoir?"

Bangladesh and India are now at loggerheads over the latter's proposed dam, caused mainly because of the lack of openness about the whole project. According to Prof. Asif Nazrul, an expert on international river law, Bangladesh as a lower riparian country has the right to be informed before any action relating to an international river is taken.

Dam construction in recent years has turned out to be a dirty business because the hazards that follow the construction outstrip the benefits. The World Commission on Dams analysed the environmental, economic and social impact of the world's 45,000 large dams, and the result unveiled by Nelson Mandela, Chairman of the Commission, in the later part of 2000 is quite bleak. Overall costs of dams, to both man and nature, are mostly negative. They are notorious for creating great environmental change. They force massive human resettlements, mostly of people who live where the lake is due to appear.

The World Bank estimated in 1994 that 300 large dams forced some four million people to leave their homes. The resettlement is often badly planned and executed. The report of the World Commission on Dams concludes that all too frequently "an unacceptable and unnecessary price has been paid to secure those benefits." Until now, millions of people worldwide have been forced out of their homes and settled elsewhere with paltry compensation and no means of earning a living.

The list of indictments is daunting. Ecosystems were destroyed or permanently damaged. Hydroelectric dams, once regarded as clean renewable energy source, turned out to be significant generators of greenhouse gases given off by decomposing vegetation in tropical reservoirs.

Many of the worst environmental effects of dams stem from their supposed benefits. For instance, the constant and reliable irrigation hydroelectric dams can waterlog the ground. The water brings underground salt to the surface, which is left behind when the water evaporates. Eventually, the soil becomes too salty for crops to survive. Even the prevention of flood is a mixed blessing. The salt which was once carried downstream by a swollen river replenishing the soil and nutrients, no longer makes its journey to the sea. Instead it clogs up the reservoir.

The building of dams is often destructive. It usually means clearing of forests or other habitats in areas to be flooded. Water in reservoirs, especially in water storage dams, becomes silted with vegetation from upstream. As that rots it emits carbon dioxide and methane, contributing to greenhouse effect. Some estimates say that reservoirs could account for more than quarter of the "global warming potential" of gases in the atmosphere.

There are other problems, too. Some large dams alter flood cycles and downstream flows, pollute rivers, remove nutrients and alter water temperature. All these can affect the survival of plants, fish and animals downstream. Blocked rivers disrupt the migration and breeding of fish, causing extinction of some species. In recent years, assessment about dam building indicates that Aswan dam and Aswan high dam, commonly held up as examples of planning, now shows negative results. The arable land downstream is being eroded away partly because it is not getting enough silt. We can also see the adverse effect of Farakka Barrage on agriculture and fishery in the northern Bangladesh.

Dams are often touted to be protection from floods, but this often turns out to be one of their most troubling drawbacks. Traditionally, land near a river has been irrigated by floods and planted as they recede. A dam can stop this from happening and rob millions of people downstream of their livelihood. The belief that the dam's irrigation of other land will make up the loss is not true. A study on the Kainji dam on the Niger showed that the dam reduced rice production downstream by 18% and fish catch by 60-70%.

But the thorniest problem is the uprooting and resettlement of people. Those most likely to be evicted by a dam are least good at adapting to new conditions. They often have to change their way of life. The World Bank itself reckons that only in a handful of cases, starting from Kaptai in Bangladesh to China and even the US, residents displaced by a dam ended up better off.

Experts fear that the Tipaimukh dam will choke up the Surma and Kushiyara rivers during the dry season and have a similar effect on a vast area of Bangladesh as that of the Farakka Barrage. Evidently, obstruction to the natural flow of Surma and Kushiyara will seriously hamper hydrology, and agriculture in at least seven adjoining districts that produce bulk of the country's rice crop.

Dams for all their material blessings are responsible for some of the worst environmental tragedies. The problems in the lower riparian countries will mount when a country building the dam in the upstream diverts or releases water to suit its needs without taking into consideration the impact on environment, agriculture, living, wildlife, fisheries and forest resources downstream.

Other than the ecological damage, the social penalties that dams impose are nowadays better understood. Dam builders, financiers, conservationists, and anti-dam protesters who met in Switzerland, agreed as early as 1997 that if an international commission were created to set standards, if everybody affected by a dam were in the planning process, if the option of building dam were weighed against all alternatives, if all the costs were accounted for and if everyone benefited from the dam, then it could go ahead.


The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star. E-mail: aukhandk@gmail.com

 

[monitor]

Tipaimukh Dam of India: Probable Disaster for Bangladesh
M. Anowar Hossain
Associate Program Officer, ActionAid Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
1. INTRODUCTION:
The water disputes between the South Asian Countries provide classic examples of the contentiousness of the issues involved in the management of international river basins. One major cause behind the failure of these countries in finding a comprehensive solution to these disputes is their reluctance to embrace the more recent norms of relevant international law. India and Bangladesh share many rivers and water resources .The rivers including the Brahmaputra and the Barak or their tributaries flowing across the north-eastern regions of India and entering into Bangladesh are mostly international rivers. These two rivers play a vital role for sharing the joys and sorrows of the people of both Bangladesh and India. Since the independence of India, its government has initiated many river projects that have innumerous negative impacts on the socio-economy, environment, agriculture, fisheries, hydrology, ecology etc. of Bangladesh located adjacent of Indian states of Assam, Manipur, Tripura at the downstream of those river projects that has to receive all the development detritus.
Amidst mounting protests both at home and in lower – riparian Bangladesh, India is going ahead with the plan to construct its largest and most controversial 1500 mw hydroelectric dam project on the river Barak at Tipaimukhin the Indian state of Manipur on the common borders of three northeastern states of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram.
In India too, people will have to suffer a lot for this mega project. The total area required for construction including submergence area is 30860 ha of which 20,797 ha is forest land, 1,195 ha is village land, 6,160 ha is horticultural land, and 2,525 ha is agricultural land. As per estimates of the authorities themselves, the project will totally affect 311sq. km and 8 villages, 1461 Hmar families in all. The project will submerge altogether 60 kms of National Highway No 53, the only alternative lifeline to NH-39 at three different points with two major bridges. The main sources of livelihood of the people are agriculture and horticulture. With the construction of Tipaimukh high dam more than 67 villages will be deprived of their source of livelihood.
Experts in the capital city of Bangladesh, Dhaka are afraid of the
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unilateral Indian movement for construction of the massive dam and regulate water flow of the river Barak that will have long adverse effects on the river system of Surma and Kushiyara in the north-eastern region of Bangladesh which will obviously have negative impacts on ecology,environment,agriculture, bio-diversity, fisheries, socio-economy etc. of Bangladesh.
The river Barak has entered into Bangladesh through Zakiganj in Sylhet and is flowing into two directions - Surma and Kushiyara.‘The Timpaimukh Dam will choke up the Surma and Kushiara rivers during the dry season and leave similar effect on Bangladesh as the Farakka Barrage is doing’, In a study made by Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) noted that obstruction to the natural flow of the Surma and Kushiyara will seriously hamper hydrology, agriculture etc. in at least seven districts of Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Brahmanbaria, Kishoreganj and Netrokona in Bangladesh that produce bulk of the country’s rice crop.
The Barak and its main distributaries river Surma and Kushiara fall within the Meghna basin, member of one of the world’s most dynamic and diversified hydrologic basin trio- Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river system. The total drainage area of the GBM region is about 1.75 million sq. km-stretching across five countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Nepal, of which Meghna basin is the smallest but most unpredictable and chaotic in hydrologic means. Barak and then Surma, Kushiyara river receive all the surface water originated in Meghna basin, carry down to the upper Meghna River, and join with Padma river at farther downstream. Combined flow then move further southward naming Lower Meghna or Meghna river to Bay of Bengal. Now, proposed Tipaimukh Dam will be constructed on the Barak river by controlling the stream flow of it, create a huge reservoir upstream of the dam to develop one of largest hydroelectric power plant in the eastern India. The dam site is located at around 100 km upstream from the diverging point of the Barak river into two rivers where Surma-Kushiara are the main distributary channels in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, experts in Bangladesh have expressed their apprehension about the Tipaimukh Dam project that will surely to block the flow of the country’s major riverine networks in the north-east region and will have further disastrous consequences at the downstream. They claim that it could hit the country fatally, or have consequences of no less magnitude than the Farakka Barrage constructed across the Ganges in

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the north-west of Bangladesh. After completion of the project, Bangladesh would get less water in three rivers-the Meghna, the Surma and the Kushiara,
So it was felt that a study in this regard would be useful to assess the plausible impacts of Tipaimukh Dam.The study was conducted with the objectives: (i) to assess the plausible impacts of Tipaimukh Dam on the environment and socio-economical conditions of the people of Bangladesh.(ii) to make recommendations and suggest remedial measures to minimize the negative impacts of Tipaimukh Dam.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Based on different journals, books, seminar papers, reports, magazines etc. the literature review was made.
2.1 Study Area: The Study area covers a gross area of 335,600 ha between latitude 24°56’ and 24° 15’ N and longitude 92°05’ and 90°55’E. It extends over the districts of Sylhet, Sunamganj, Moulavibazar, Habiganj and Kishoreganj in Bangladesh. The study area is bounded by the Kushiyara-Bijna-Ratna-Sutang River system on the south, the old Surma-Dahuka River system and Jagannathpur-Sylliet road on the north, old Surma-Baulai River system on the west, and the Sylhet-Kaktai village road on the east.
The area generally experiences the sub-tropical monsoon climate due to variation of its location and topography. Mean annual rainfall increases from an average of 2,572 mm/year in the south (at Habiganj) to 5,641 mm/year (at Sunamganj) in the north, or by 119% across the project area. This increase is mainly attributable to the presence of the Shillong Plateau to the north. The mean annual rainfalls during the period 1961-90 were 10% greater than those during the period 1901-30. The annual rainfalls during the period 1961-90 were 1.95 times as variable as those during the period 1901-30. It is possible that the indicated trends may reflect only a rise to the peak of some long-term climatic cycle, but they may reflect a monoclinal rise due to global climatic change. However, caution should be exercised in interpreting these results, due to the relatively high proportion of synthetic data Maximum temperature varies from 27.6°c to 35.0°c.The highest temperatures are experienced during the pre-monsoon period. Daily minimum temperature can fluctuate significantly during the year ranging from 9 °C to 23 °C. (NERP, 1995).
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The land in the study area is generally low-lying and of low relief. The landforms in the study area have formed as a result of alluvial sediment deposition on a slowly subsiding tectonic basin. Consequently, most of the area is underlain by Holocene-age alluvial, estuarine and lacustrine deposits. The study area is comprised of three main physiographic units: uplands, lowlands floodplain and flood basins (GSB, 1990 and Rashid, 1991). Uplands cover about 1 % of the study area and are located in the northeast. They are comprised of merging alluvial fans that slope gently outwards from the foothills.
The lowland floodplain comprises about 34%, or 1,137 km2 of the study area. The floodplain contain channel deposits such as meander scrolls and fills, over bank deposits such as natural levees and crevasse splays, flood basin and back-channel deposits. Flood basins cover about 65% of the study area. This physiographic unit is characterized by large, saucer-shaped depressions known as haors. Haor land is generally very low-lying and often contains permanent water bodies or heels. During the monsoon season, all of the haor areas are deeply flooded. The haors comprise the prime agricultural land of the study area, but seasonal inundation is a constraint to agriculture. In most areas only the born (dry season) rice crop can be grown, but this is liable to flood damage in the pre-monsoon season. Haors and beefs are also important habitat for fish and other wildlife.
The area occupies five agro-ecological zones (AEZ): the Old Meghna Estuarine Floodplain (AEZ 19), Eastern Surma-Kushiyara Floodplain (AEZ 20), Sylhet Basin (AEZ 21), Northern and Eastern Piedmont Plains (AEZ 22), and Northern and Eastern Hill (AEZ 29). All the zones excepting AEZ 20 are divided into sub-zones. The sub-zones are differentiated by relief and flooding characteristics.
Nine general soil types occur in the study area: Non-calcareous dark Grey Floodplain, Noncalcareous Grey Floodplain and Acid Basin Clays are their major components. Non-calcareous Dark Grey Floodplain predominates in the southwestern part, Acid Basin Clays in central-southern part, and Non-calcareous Grey Floodplain in the western, northern, and eastern parts. Varying proportions of Non-calcareous Alluvium, Peat, Non-calcareous Brown Floodplain Soils, Grey Piedmont Soils, Brown Hills Soil, and Deep Grey Terrace Soils occur in the project area.
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[patna_ke_presley]

mmm...the damn is risky considering the area is prone to earthquakes.

Claim for earthquake is bullshit. I will repeat once again during 2005 Kashmir Earthquake nothing happened to Balgihar Dam,Tarbela Dam, Mangla Dam. Japan has so many Dams, even there we never heard of Dam burst in any area in Last 60yrs.

Category: Dams in Hokkaido

 

[Zabaniyah]

 

[Varunastra]

ha ha ha ha !!!!!very funny!!!!!.................hasinake sobie buddhu bhebe rekheche!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Roybot]

Govt satisfied with Indian explanation: Gowher

The government is satisfied with the explanation given by the Indian government regarding the Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River, the prime minister’s Foreign Adviser Gowher Rizvi said on Monday.

“We are completely satisfied by the Indian government’s explanation concerning the Tipaimukh Dam. There should not be any further apprehension about this issue,” Gowher told reporters after a programme in the capital’s Bangabandhu International Convention Centre.

 

[Lighting_Fighter]

The second farakka=tipaimukhi

and awami buys it

 

[livingdead]

Can bangladeshis give an alternative instead of saying no to everything. How about exporting gas a low price?
We need energy, we want to grow. We have too many poor people, and if we dont grow fast, they will remain in poverty forever.

 

[Roybot]

Bangladesh is running out of gas itself.