BNP-Jamaat alliance was in power when Indian government finalized Tipaimukh Hydro Electric Project in Manipur in 2003. The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (neepco), the government agency entrusted with the responsibility of building power projects in the northeast, has been handed the project. In November 2005, it floated a global tender for the project. In July 2006, the pre-bid qualification of the tender for the first phase wasd opened. Initially Indian government budgeted five thousand crore for this project.
The ball was finally rolling from Indian side in 2003 while the BNP-Jamaat alliance government in
When all the unthinkable was happening with Indian unilateral decision only few miles from Bangladesh soil, two successive government, Khaleda-Nizami and Iazuddin-Fokhruddin failed to raise the issue with India and failed to inform people of Bangladesh about its danger.
People of
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government had already started bilateral talks with Indian counter part on Tipaimukh project. Government has rightly decided to form two-examination committee. Out of this two committee, one will comprise all party parliamentarians and the other will include technical experts. Both committees will visit proposed Tipaimukh Hydro Eclectic project as fact finding mission, from there report Bangladesh will make its case on how to place Bangladesh interest on Indian unilateral decision on Tipaimukh hydro electric project.
Interestingly, Khaleda-Nizami alliance government all off a sadden wakeup from their deep sleep and trying to make some buzz ward for political reason against Tipaimukh project, the project that they gave secret green signal to Indian authority in 2003 selling the interest of Bangladesh for mere political gain.
The nation still vividly remembers, Khaleda Zia led her delegation to
This is extremely sad for people of
We as a nation must find all facts about Tipaimukh Hydro Electric Multipurpose project before interest of
Sincerely,
Shamim Chowdhury
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Mahathir of BD <wouldbemahathirofbd@...> wrote:
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> http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/28/edit.html
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> Editorial
> Govt seems to be undermining
> Tipaimukh danger
> THE Awami League-led government, it increasingly seems, has somehow been convinced by its New Delhi counterparts that there is benefit for Bangladesh to be had from the construction of the Tipaimukh Dam/s on the river Barak. Ever since the Indian high commissioner disclosed late last week Indiaâs plan to go ahead with the construction of the dam, at least three members of the cabinet said Dhaka would not oppose the project if it benefits Bangladesh. The commerce minister, Faruk Khan, as usual, came up with by far the strongest hint that the government may have been already convinced that dam could after all benefit, and not harm, Bangladesh, when he told journalists on Tuesday that âthose who are talking too much against construction of the dam are talking without knowing anythingâ¦â He did say the government âwill soon send a delegation comprising experts and parliamentarians to see what is going on there and how it will benefit Bangladesh.â
> That is, however, hardly reassuring.
>    It would indeed be interesting to know who the commerce minister was accusing of âtalking too much⦠without knowing anythingâ; after all, the individuals who have been at the forefront of the ever-intensifying wave of opposition to the Tipaimukh project are mostly experts with years of experience under their belts. Interestingly still, many of them are Indians. They are unanimous in their conclusion that the Tipaimukh Dam/s would wreak an environmental disaster of an unimaginable magnitude and adversely affect millions of people on either side of the Bangladesh-India border who rely on the Meghna river system for their livelihood. Needless to say, their conclusions are based on an ever-growing pile of scientific evidence.
> Â Â Â The benefit that the government may be envisaging, i.e. import of electricity generated from the dam, could turn out to be a chimera. In an article published in New Age on May 21, Dr Solbam Ibotombi, who teaches earth sciences at Manipur University and is a staunch critic of the Tipaimukh project, writes that âthe dam was originally conceived to contain the floodwater in the Cachar plain of Assam but, later on, emphasis has been placed on hydroelectric power generation, having an installation capacity of 1,500MW but only firm generation capacity of 412MW.â If so is the case, what percentage of the 412MW of electricity the government expects to import from India, which is no less electricity-starved than Bangladesh, and at what cost? As argued by Ibotombi and other Indian experts, the cost involved here is not just the cost of electricity but the irreparable economic and environmental damage that the project is likely to cause.
> Â Â Â When there is a growing body of scientific evidence as well as strong opposition within India against the Tipaimukh project, the argument put forth by the commerce minister and some of his colleagues, i.e. there may be benefit in the project for Bangladesh, can hardly be construed as being a product of naivety and inadequate knowledge. In fact, given the Indian governmentâs perceived predilection for the Awami League, it could very well be construed as the governmentâs willingness to submit to Delhiâs plans. Here, the credibility of the government is not at stake alone, the livelihood of millions of people in India and Bangladesh is as well. The ministers in question would surely have done a great service to the country and to themselves if they took the pains to gather the details of the dam project and also go through the scientific evidences that point at the potential economic and environmental damage that the Tipaimukh project would
> cause. If they had, they might have thought twice before suggesting that Bangladesh is likely to benefit from the project and that the critics of the project are âtalking too much⦠without knowing anythingâ.
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> Is there any army in the world that can win over 150 Millions people? Should we be afraid of any country?         Â
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