IMPHAL, June 6: A 13-member team from Bangladesh arrived here today to study and assess the effects of the multi-purpose hydro-electric Tipaimukh project at the tri-junction of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram.
The team led by Bangladesh External Affairs Publicity Wing Deputy Director Mohhamad Zashimuddin is on a six-day trip to study the project that has generated controversy in the north east and Bangladesh, official sources said.
The team is visiting Tipaimukh dam site at the invitation of the Centre and have proceeded to the site by helicopter later in the day. The team included 10 Bangladesh based journalists.
Taking to IFP Ram Wangkheirakpam a anti dam activist said, “Assam and Manipur too is on the downstream side of the project. If the government is keen in resolving or clarifying to Bangladesh on the downstream impact why are not inviting representatives from Assam and Manipur to the Tipaimukh dam site.
Consent from Bangladesh is not enough, the state must get consent from the mentioned states too, he said.
More critically, in the upstream of Manipur, those groups who have been protesting against the dam for more than 15 years now are being sidelined while trying to appease Bangladesh. The protest reached its peak when affected people and civil society organizations boycotted public hearings conducted by the government.
Ram Wangkheirakpam of North East Peoples Alliance further said, “it is indeed ridiculous that the government is flying in MPs and journalists from Bangladesh while those who has been protesting against the Dam in Manipur for more than 15 years have never been offered such an opportunity by the government or the dam proponents.”
It may be recalled that, Manipur had twice passed in the Assembly resolving that they will not allow the dam. Yet they are changing their position since the Assembly resolution in 1995 and 1997, he mentioned.
He however welcomed the visit of the Parliamentary Committee from Bangladesh but a NHPC controlled visit cannot lead to a decision on the dam, he added.
The activist stated that the joint River Commission which is to be set up is unacceptable as this Commission does not have anyone from Manipur or from Assam who are key stakeholders.
In a similar tone, Dr Debabratta Roy Laifungbam, convenor of Centre for Organization Research and Education (CORE) said, “It is nothing new. Such issues are eternal in politics. Governments and politicians have never really cared for the common people, and especially the marginalized indigenous and tribal peoples.”
The Tipaimukh dam entered the lexicon of the Joint Rivers Commission more categorically in 1978, when it was decided that “the concerned Superintending Engineers of the two countries should jointly examine the scope of the Indian scheme of storage dam on Barak river at Tipaimukh.
After an interregnum of almost 25 years, Tipaimukh once again reared its head in 2005 at the Joint Rivers Commission. In the interim a lot had changed, internationally and domestically. A very peculiar development was the global movement against dams, which highlighted the social and environmental costs of multi-purpose projects. These concerns were fully articulated in a report released by the World Commission on Dams in 2000, which, in addition to highlighting social and environmental issues, also emphasized upon people’s participation in decisions related to dam building activities.
“The Indian government has offered the Manipur state a meagre 10% free electricity (i.e. 40 MW) from the project in exchange of the environmental losses of the state. As far as the latest ploy to invite the government of Bangladesh to become a partner in the project, the position of the indigenous people and civil society of Manipur remains unchanged. The project is unanimously opposed”, he stated.