NGOs in Manipur urge BD not to compromise on Tipaimukh dam

FE Report Leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of Manipur state in the northeast India have urged authorities concerned in Bangladesh not to compromise with the government in New Delhi over the construction of the proposed Tipaimukh dam on the Barak river for the sake of environmental interests of the region. The NGOs also urged relevant Indian authorities to revoke the environmental clearance given for the proposed dam project to set up a 1,500 mega watt hydro-electric plant. The United NGOs Mission-Manipur (UNM-M), a platform of leading organisations working for protection of environment and human rights in a resolution last week urged Bangladesh to refrain from compromising the dam issue with India, as the dam will destroy environment and ecology not only of Manipur and Mizoram, but also of north-eastern Bangladesh, said a press release of UNM-M. The meeting also demanded that the relevant authorities should make the proposed hydro-electric project more open and transparent and let the people know about its advantages and disadvantages, said the press release made available to the FE on Tuesday. The UNM-M urged both Bangladesh and India to respect the rights of the indigenous people and make a holistic impact assessment of the proposed project with due participation of all communities to be affected in the upstream and down stream of the Barak river. The NGO guild said that the government of India should also abandon the plan to construct 1,279 mini hydel plants in the NE region and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) should immediately shut its office and leave Manipur. India adopted the Tipaimukh hydel dam project on the river Barak in Manipur state of India in 1984. The project is also supposed to control floods along the river. But the implementation of the project has been delayed due to controversy between India and Bangladesh over water rights, environmental issues and relocation of affected people. This year the government of India announced further delay, as Bangladesh urged India to undertake additional studies about expected effects and mitigating measures.