Environmental activists demand scrapping of Tipaimukh dam project

Sinlung, Tuithraphai, Oct 10, 2007. Picketing of all the Government offices in the hill districts of Manipur in protest against NEEPCO’s continuous “deliberate attempt” to get Environment Clearance for Tipaimukh Hydroelectric (Multipurpose) Project on October 12 has been fixed.

The Committee Against Tipaimukh Dam (CATD), constituted by United Naga Council (UNC), Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), All Naga Students Association, Manipur (ANSAM) and Naga Women Union Manipur (NWUM) have strongly condemned another “deliberate attempts made by North Eastern Power Corporation Ltd. (NEEPCO)” by hosting Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects (EAC) meeting on October 15 at their Guwahati office to get a environmental clearance of the Tipaimukh Hydroelectric (Multipurpose) Project through “swirling and flouting” of all existing international and national norms with total “disregards” to the laws of the land and peoples’ concerns.

The Committee Against Tipaimukh Dam (CATD) also seriously concerns and doubts the Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects of their ethnical conduct and its neutrality as expert committee as it seem to be playing clandestine game with NEEPCO by accepting or choosing NEEPCO Guwahati Office for the next meeting on October 15.

“It is pertinent to mention here that NEEPCO has applied for the granting of Environment Clearance from the EAC by producing outdated data gathered from here and there using outdated method & technologies for only two seasons of year. The same application was rejected by the EAC 52nd meeting held on 21 and 22nd February 2007,” stated the CATD while adding, “the democratically elected Government of Manipur has disowned and disrespected the democratic voices of the people by using its military might against their own electorates”.

CATD reiterates its demands for total the scrapping of Tipaimukh Mega Dam. CATD along with all their allies organisations and groups will launch a continuous democratic form of protests till the Mega Dam Project is scraped for once and all, warned the committee in a statement. It has announced that on October 12 picketing of all the Manipur Government offices in the hill districts will be launched. The governmet of Manipur will be held responsible for and untoward incident arising out of the agitation, cautioned the CATD statement issued by its convenor Aram Pamei.

News and Update: Books on Tipaimukh dam released

‘Building Tipaimukh Dam a violation of UN convention’: Two books on dam launched

Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star, October 10, 2007. Dhaka, Bangladesh

Construction of Tipaimukh Dam, a project of India, on the river Barak in Manipur is a violation of UN Watercourse Convention, speakers at a book launching ceremony said yesterday. Experts and environmental activists termed the Tipaimukh Dam on the common river with Bangladesh a serious threat to the river system, bio-diversity, ecology, agriculture, fisheries and socio-economy of Bangladesh.

Two books titled ‘No To Tipaimukh Dam!’ and ‘Controversial Tipaimukh Dam: Overall Overview’ were launched at the ceremony at the National Press Club. The Angikar Bangladesh Foundation, publisher of the books, organised the event. The book ‘No To Tipaimukh Dam!’ is based on the International Tipaimukh Dam Conference held in Dhaka in December 2005 while the other book is a research paper by M Anowar Hossain.

The environmental activists urged the peoples of both the countries to resist the construction of the dam. The Tipaimukh Dam would displace millions of people as well as damage the heritage and livelihoods of the people in the two countries, they said.

The dam would have a serious negative impact on agriculture and the environment of Bangladesh and it would also put the region at greater risk of earthquake, said Prof Nazrul Islam, chairman of University Grants Commission. “We are not against development activities,” Prof Nazrul said, adding that but such a dam would bring disasters instead of creating positive impact.

“The river Barak has entered into Bangladesh through Zakiganj in Sylhet and is flowing into two directions — Surma and Kushiyara. The Tipaimukh dam will choke up both the rivers during the dry season and leave similar effect on Bangladesh as the Farakka Barrage is doing,” Abul Mal Abdul Muhit said.

Dr MA Matin, general secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon, Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid, Prof ABM Faruque and Muhammad Hilaluddin of Angikar Bangladesh Foundation also spoke.

Sign the petition: Let the Barak river run free, cancel the Tipaimukh dam

News and Update: World Bank Approves New Water Project in Bangladesh

The World Bank signalled its re-entry in the water sector in Bangladesh by approving a massive US$102.26 million credit financing Water Management Improvement Project in Bangladesh.

This is the largest World Bank loan to the water sector in Bangladesh since civil society protest forced the Bank to withdraw from Bangladesh water sector in the early nineties over the infamous mega-project Flood Action Plan (FAP).

This new project is “designed to enhance water management by expanding the role of local communities, from planning and design to operations and management. It also aims to improve institutional performance of the country’s principal water institutions ─ Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO)“.

The project targets an estimated that 2 million households. The claimed objective of the project is to “reduce crop losses during the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods and increase agricultural production due to improved drainage and flood control and expansion of irrigation”.

Bangladesh is prone to recurring natural disasters like floods, erosion, cyclones and tidal surges that result in human casualties and economic losses. Each year, up to 30 percent of the country is inundated, flooding about 6 million hectares. People living in coastal and riverine areas in general are specially exposed to the dangers of natural disasters. A series of ill planned flood control and irrigation project funded by donors, often disregarding the ecological characteristics of the river system, worsened the problem and created river drainage congestion and waterlogging problems in Bangladesh.

The project will finance “rehabilitation and improvement of about 102 existing flood control, drainage, and irrigation schemes and transfer their management to the local communities through Water Management Organizations (WMOs). It will also support measures to improve performance of another 98 existing schemes that do not require major rehabilitation and have functioning WMO’s or similar organizations”.

Water experts have already warned that the creation of Water Management Associations (WMOs) is linked to the conditions imposed by the Bank to introduce “cost recovery” princliples. In many parts of Bangladesh introduction of “cost recovery” principles in irrigation projects has exposed the marginal farmers to market mechanisms that comes with privtization of irrigation.

The credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessionary arm, has 40 years to maturity with a 10-year grace period; it carries a service charge of 0.75 percent.

For more information and documents about the project visit the World Bank website.