http://www.parisvisionnews.com/articles/2035-tipaimukh-dam-in-india-a-death-trap-for-bangladeshdr-muhammad-shah-alam.html
"Tipaimukh Dam in India: A Death Trap for Bangladesh":Dr. Muhammad Shah Alam
Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:09
The Tipaimukh Dam is located 500 meters downstream from the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai Rivers at Manipur State in India. On October 22, 2011, the Indian government unilaterally signed an agreement with the Indian national hydro-electric companies Nigon, NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited), and SJVN (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited-SJVNL) and the Manipur State government – The Tipaimukh Dam Project.
The government of Bangladesh was either uninformed or unaware of this massive project occurring at the world's 6th most earthquake-prone area in India (directly following California, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, and Turkey) located just 100 kilometers away from the Bangladesh-India border. The Barak River originated from the Manipur State Mountains, flowing 277 kilometers inside India and 669 kilometers inside Bangladesh, splitting into the Shurma, Kushiara, and Meghna Rivers to ultimately join the Bay of Bengal.
Structure of the Tipaimukh Dam Project
The Tipaimukh Dam Project has two parts: the dam itself and its associated barrages. A large barrage already exists seventeen kilometers downstream on the Barak River from the Tipaimukh area. This huge earth dam (rock-filled with central impervious core) will be 163 meters high and 390 meters long, with a storage capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of water (bcm) and a catchment area of 286 square kilometers of land, which will exert 160 metric tons of pressure per square meters of area of land and 491 cubic meters of water flow per second from the giant water reservoir. In addition, India has a plan to constitute an even larger barrage at the Fulertal area, downstream of the dam site. The main purpose of the dam and barrages is to divert two-thirds of the water flow from the Barak River to neighboring Indian states, Assam and Kasur, for irrigation purposes. As a result, only 50 bcm of water will be available at the Meghna Basin inside Bangladesh. Bangladesh has the right to have 800 bcm of water from rivers originated in India and flowing through Bangladesh.
Effects of the Tipaimukh Dam on Bangladesh
As a result, 60% of the total area of Bangladesh will undergo desertification in 20 years time, and 40 million members of the Bangladeshi population, as well as 5 million members of the Indian population, will be directly affected. During the rainy/monsoon seasons, water flow in the rivers will be reduced to one-third of its original content, and sea water levels will rise 2 to 3
feet. The Meghna River is already at a lower level than the Brammaputra and Ganges Rivers. When the sea level rises 3-4 meters, five meters of saline water will enter inside Bangladesh and
sixteen districts adjacent to the rivers will be negatively affected by disrupting the entirety of the surrounding ecosystems. When saline water enters deep into the earth, the scarcity of pure drinking water , forests, plants, animals, green lands, agriculture, fisheries, and poultry systems will be harmed.
Also, the Tipaimukh Dam area is one of the most seismically active zones of the world's geotectonic setting for the worst earthquakes in the history of mankind. As per the experts' assessments of the basic geological information of the area, plate-kinetics, and seismicity study, the site of the proposed dam area is an extremely active zone of earthquakes ranking dangerously high on the Richter scale. Even a few centimeters of dam displacement leads to a grave disaster leading to an enormous loss of lives and property. Seismically hazardous to the entire zone, earthquakes make an effect equivalent to that of 10 atomic bombs destroying this area, especially the northeastern regions of Bangladesh.
The Tipaimukh Dam will surely cause both negative long- and short-term effects on Bangladesh in multiple dimensions – ecohydrological, morphological, geological, biodiversity and environmental, climatic change and desertification, socioeconomical, and finally political. Among all of these adverse effects of the Tipaimukh Dam, at least three types of risks occur. First, internal subversion could be a threat to the safety of such a huge structure. Secondly, earthquakes are extremely likely to damage the dam, as we remember the collapse of the Sheffield Dam at Santa Barbara, California, USA in 1925, the Japingo Dam incident in China in 2008, the Assam Dam earthquake effects in 1897, India's Brammaputra Channel in 1899 diverting the water flow, and the negative effects from damages at 245 minor dams in Gujrat, India in 2001. Third, and finally, the most serious threat to the dam arises from rainfalls and flooding during the monsoon season.
We should also mention that India itself has already constructed dams on 450 Himalayan rivers and on five more rivers flowing from Nepal and Bhutan for hydroelectricity and water reservation purposes of 6,500 bcm of water. India maximally needs only 900 bcm of water per year. Bangladesh needs 1346 bcm of water for survival in all rivers per year, but India is diverting 800 bcm of water, leaving only 546 bcm, which is only 40% of the needed water. Also, this shallow water level lies at the bottom of rivers and fails to charge deep underground water.
International Rules on Rivers and Dams
According to the 1996 Ganges Act, Article 9, unilateral use of water from joint river is prohibited, but India is not complying with this Act of Equity, Fairness, and No Harm. Also, India is not discussing the plan of the dam, exchanging scientific information and making a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh. India is contractually bound to abide by this treaty until 2026. As per the 1992 Biodiversity Convention, 1972 World Heritage Convention, and 1971 Wetland Convention, India has no right to unilateral implementation of this giant Tipaimukh Dam.
The Tipaimukh Dam Project also violates the 1992 Transboundary Water Course Convention, the 1972 Ramsar Convention, the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate, and the 1994 Convention of Desertification. The 2000 World Commission on Dams's Dams and Development Research Reports clearly mentioned that big dams cause more harm than benefit The harmful effects include forests and animal life loss, greenhouse gas emissions, extinction of animals and plants, and damage to water quality. These harmful effects are irreparable. Because of these adverse effects, the USA already destroyed most of its bigger dams.
In the 1997 UN Convention on River Course, Article 5 (1), it is stated that to build dams/barrages on rivers in upstream areas necessitates permission from downstream countries. No activity is legally allowed in upstream areas that causes harm to the people of downstream areas. No attempts or activities could be done that cause change or destroy climatic conditions, either in the upstream or downstream areas.
The Tipaimukh Dam Project is a clear violation of the Joint River Commission between India and Bangladesh, as per international river commission acts. There is no agreement between Bangladesh and India regarding this dam. India also violated the Ganges Water Treaty and the Tista Dam and Barrages Agreement, as well as the international rules and norms.
Bangladesh has suffered for the last forty years due to the Farakka Dam by India. Despite the Bangladesh government at the time had agreed for only 40 days as an experimental run of the project as a gesture of friendly relations in response to a request from India in 1974, the dam project continued after the expiry of the experiment. India agreed to have an agreement on the Ganges river water sharing in 1977 with guarantee clauses only after the matter was raised at the United Nations in 1976.
Considering the African 1995 Zambezi River Protocol, the 1997 Lake Victoria Program, the Southeast Asian 1995 Mekong River Agreement, and the South American 2004 Program for Pantanal and upper Paraguay, 1997 International Court of Justice verdict regarding the River Danube dispute between Hungary and Slovakia, and the US/Canadian Hydroelectric Projects on the Columbia River and the Colorado River, we demand a Joint River Commission among Bangladesh, India, China, Nepal, and Bhutan, upholding the principle of a no-harm policy under UN laws and conventions with the provision of arbitration by the relevant UN body. This demand is in the spirit of the Millennium Declaration with regard to joint management and exploitation of common rivers and water resources for sustainable development of all.
Conclusions
Bangladesh is surrounded by India on three sides with one side connected to the Bay of Bengal. Historically, Bangladesh was once known as the "Golden Bengal," repeated in many poems by the Nobel Laureate poet, Tagore. India unilaterally constructed the Farakka Dam and Barrages on the Western side, the Tista Dam and Barrages on the River Tista flowing into Northern part of Bangladesh, and finally, it is constructing the giant Tipaimukh Dam and its Barrages on the rivers that flow in rest of the eastern side of Bangladesh.
Thus, the once-golden Bengal is now doomed for desertification as India impinges Bangladesh's right to water of common rivers. This, in fact, is a violation of universal human rights to sustainable development of the people of Bangladesh. Bangladesh, a small agriculturally based country equal in size of the US State of Wisconsin and having a population of 160 million, is increasingly suffering from desertification, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Bangladesh, one of the world's most populous and least developed countries will suffer enormously due to unilateral and inhumane acts of aggression by a big regional hegemony, India, our so-called friendly neighbor. India and the rest of the world should realize that poverty and lack of development can seriously undermine security which might not remain confined in the area.
Hence, we urge the world community and the United Nations to understand the grievous effects on Bangladesh as a whole and come forward to help Bangladesh by intervening in order to pressurize the Indian government to stop the construction of the Tipaimukh Dam until environmental and ecological studies are done by international experts under the auspices of the United Nations.(PBC News)
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