Tipaimukh dam restarts to dry up Surma, Kushiara Tipaimukh barrage barely one kilometer away from Jakiganj border.With the end of winter the rivers in Bangladesh begin to dry up. The consequence of dams, dykes and barrages built on major rivers by upper riparian India has been disastrous for Bangladesh. Free flow of water in the Padma has been hindered. A process of desertification has already started and even the dredging proved fruitless to keep the navigability intact. Besides, this has created ecological imbalance in the whole country. Irrigation has been hampered. Building barrage over Tipaimukh will dry up the flow of rivers Surma and Kushiara rendering a vast tract of land in Sylhet fallow. Despite vigorous protests from Bangladesh side work on Tipaimukh barrage in Assam resumes and this is not taken kindly by the lower riparian people. UNB adds: India has started construction of Tipaimukh barrage barely one kilometer away from Jakiganj border threatening to dry up the flow of the Surma and Kushiara rivers during the winter. The barrage on the Barak River at Churachandpur district in Assam will render barren vast arable lands in north-east of Bangladesh, change ecology and climate in the region. Officials of the Water Development Board told UNB today that work on the barrage was started in March 2007 but postponed in the face of protest within and outside India. A long march from Sylhet to Jakiganj and environmentalists in India had strongly protested construction of the barrage. They said Indian state-owned NIPCO Company recently started the groundwork on the barrage. An appraisal committee of river valley and hydro-electric experts of India issued the clearance certificate for the barrage few months ago. Sajjadul Hasan, deputy Commissioner of Sylhet, said he would inform the appropriate quarter about the latest development on Tipaimukh barrage. The barrage at the catchment of Surma and Kushiara rivers at an estimated cost of Rs 4 crore is aimed at building up a 1500-megawatt hydel project. When completed by 2012 the barrage, 350km Surma River and 110km Kushiara River will dry up in the winter seriously affecting agriculture and bringing about ecological change in the region, experts said. |
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