| Dhaka should press for joint impact assessment As a few reports on the impact of Tipaimukh project on Indian territories were published in India, Bangladesh should negotiate for a joint impact-assessment on both countries with experts of Bangladesh and India, environment experts told The Daily Star yesterday. Making an impact assessment of Tipaimukh Hydro Electric (multipurpose) Project only for the Indian side will never do when it is on a joint river system, they said. North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd of India recently published three reports on the project in its website. The reports are Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Management Plan and Dam Break Analysis and Disaster Management Plan. Even though the Surma-Kushiara-Meghna is 947km long, the assessment was done only on 277km of river inside India. The report showed only Mizoram and Manipur of India as probable areas that may be affected by the project. The information on the structures, designs, nature of management of the project, however, was not in the report. A report said the project would generate 1,500 megawatt of electricity and huge areas of agriculture land will be brought under the project. The Environmental Impact Assessment report mentioned a proposal for constructing a barrage at Fulertal, 95km downstream of Tipaimukh. It said the low-lying areas around the dam would increase, if the dam is constructed on the river Barak at Tipaimukh. One of the Indian reports said there are risks of landslides in the project area, which is also earthquake-prone. The area suffered 16 earthquakes that registered seven on the Richter scale. Two earthquakes registered 8.5. The Environmental Impact Assessment report suggested that a taskforce be formed involving representatives of policymakers, government, research institutes, NGOs and locals to protect the biodiversity of the Indian territories concerned. It also said there are 136 species of fish in the Barak and the Manipur government has to take initiatives to preserve 40 species of fish, including Hilsa, the national fish of Bangladesh. Asked about the reports, water resources expert of Bangladesh Ainun Nishat said the impact of a dam goes much beyond what is apparent. It will have environmental, social, economic, seismic and hydrological impacts on vast areas of Bangladesh, he told The Daily Star, adding that it is not known if the Indian impact assessments included all these issues. Even if the reports included all these aspects, they did not cover the Bangladesh side, said Nishat, also country representative of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). First of all Bangladesh should now get all details of the dam project and negotiate for a joint impact assessment by professionals of India and Bangladesh. The professionals and the parliamentary delegation going to India must consult experts of various fields, he suggested. Environment expert Atiq Rahman suggested that the impact assessment of Tipaimukh project should be done either by international experts or jointly by experts of India and Bangladesh. "After getting all the data of the project, we can surely assess the impact separately but why should India accept that," he said, adding that the ideal thing is to have the assessment done by a joint group of experts. "First we must see what the water flow would be in various seasons if the dam is constructed," said Atiq, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies. Bangladesh is a highly populated country, he said, adding that the issue of climate change is also of high importance that must be looked into. Bangladesh Economic Association's Prof QK Ahmad said it is a good sign that the Indian prime minister told the Bangladesh prime minister that India would not do anything that harms its relation with Bangladesh. A joint assessment is a must after detailed information is gathered on the project, he said. "However, if the barrage is constructed at Fulertal, we must be very cautious about it," he said. |
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