India is all set to build a hydroelectric power plant, a massive barrage inclusive, upstream of a major river system of Bangladesh that could inflict on its downstream neighbours economic, ecological and human catastrophes.
   And while experts and relevant officials at the Ministry of Water Resources fear the repercussions of the mega-project could be debilitating, the government has adopted a familiar position of preferring to remain uninformed — because they ‘have not been officially notified’ by the Indian government.
   The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) of India, in the first week of this month, approved the final techno-economic clearance (TEC) of the controversial 1,500 Megawatt Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project.
   Tipaimukh is located in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, close to the Bangladesh border near Karimganj in Sylhet.
   The plant and its accompanying barrage is set to be built on the river Borak, which divides into two streams as it enters Bangladesh — the rivers Surma and Kushiara.
   The mighty Meghna originates at the confluence of the Surma and the Kushiara.
   Experts in Bangladesh have expressed their apprehensions about the project that is sure to block the flow the country’s major riverine network in the north-east and have further consequences downstream.
   They claim that it could hit the country fatally, and in no less a magnitude than the Farakka Barrage across the Ganges to the north-west of Bangladesh.
    “After completion of the project, Bangladesh would get less water in three rivers — Meghna, Surma and Kushiara,” Quamrul Islam Siddiqui, president of the Institution of Engineers and chairman of the Global Water Partnership, Bangladesh chapter, told New Age on Sunday.
    “After Farakka, the Tipaimukh could spell another disaster for Bangladesh,” he said.
   Bangladesh and India have been at loggerheads over water sharing since 1974, when India completed the Farakka Barrage, diverting crucial dry-season flows into Indian irrigation canals.
   Bangladesh blames the barrage for dried-up fields, diseases and the salt poisoning of the vast Sundarban mangrove swamps in the Ganges delta.
   Despite such a pronounced threat to the ecology, economy and way of life, the government seems least bothered to either officially lodge a complaint with India or develop mechanisms to tackle the danger posed.
    “The Indian government has not informed Bangladesh about the Tipaimukh project,” State Minister for Water Resources Goutam Chakrabarty told New Age on Monday. “Therefore we are not in a position to officially respond to the issue.”
   A source in the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) told New Age on Sunday, “We unofficially requested our counterpart in India to give information about the Tipaimukh project. But they did not respond to our request.”
   Some experts belive that even though the project has already been given the final go-ahead, there is still scope for negotiations between the two neighbours on the issue.
    “Bangladesh could not stop the commissioning of the Tipaimukh project. But the government can attempt to find out how the project would operate during the rainy and dry seasons and negotiate to ensure the flow of the rivers,” Dr Ainun Nishat, environmentalist and country director of IUCN Bangladesh, told New Age on Sunday.
   The CEA accorded the final TEC for the Rs 51638.3 million project on July 2, after getting the final clearance and no-objection certificate from Mizoram the same day.
   NEEPCO, the project-implementing authority, has begun the process for floating international tenders to undertake the Tipaimukh project.
   Contracts would be awarded by March 2004. The project works, in 6 phases, are slated to be completed by 2011. The first unit, with capacity of generating 250MW electricity, would be completed within 82 months of awarding the contract.
   Earlier, the project was delayed after the Manipur State Assembly had put up objections. The objections were withdrawn after NEEPCO agreed to provide Rs 2,500 million for setting up protection schemes in the project area.
   Out of the total project cost, Rs 1,000 million is earmarked for national highway diversion, and another Rs 2,000 million for flood mitigation.
   Of the total electricity to be produced by the plant, 11 percent and 1 percent would be provided free to Manipur and Mizoram respectively as royalty.
   Sources at the water resources ministry in Dhaka said that there are no international laws about multi-riparian rivers. But the convention is that an upper-riparian country would inflict ‘nothing damaging’ on its lower-riparian neighbour.
   Here, at the Tipaimukh instance, the convention is not being practised, they said.