Tipaimukh : It is risky to trust Indian assurances
Saturday, 25 July 2009
ONE fourth of Bangladesh has been suffering for nearly thirty-five years since the Farakka barrage was commissioned by India in April 1975 though it took Bangladesh's permission to test run the barrage and its feeder canal for 41 days. Indira Gandhi assured Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under the Mujib-Indira joint declaration of May 1974 that India would not commission the Farakka barrage until a mutually acceptable sharing agreement was reached. In April 1975, India sought permission to test run its Farakka barrage, and the feeder canal only for 41 days from April 21 to May 31 of that year. But on April 21 India deceptively commissioned the Farakka barrage.
The once mighty Padma has been reduced to a trickle by the upstream withdrawal of water from the Gangas using the Farakka barrage.
A similar outcome could occur across north-eastern Bangladesh if India builds the Tipaimukh dam and Fulertali barrage on the Barak river. Like the Farakka, the Indian policy seems to be to keep Bangladesh guessing while completing its two projects.
Why should Bangladesh trust Indian assurances given from time to time, that India would not construct the dam and the barrage without Bangladesh's knowledge and consent. India repeatedly went back on its similar pledges with known consequences by now. From a position of no progress, India is now proceeding to award the contracts for the Tipaimukh dam and the Fulertali barrage. Only a year ago, India was trying to mislead Bangladesh on the issue by stating that there would be no diversion of water from the Barak for irrigation.
The Indian policy, as in the past, seems to be to keep Bangladesh in two minds while advancing with its undeclared agenda to make it a matter of fait accompli. The Tipaimukh dam and Fulertali barrage are no different. Bangladesh must act in time to neutralise the looming dangers.
Shamim Ahmed
Dept. of International Relations
University of Dhaka.
The once mighty Padma has been reduced to a trickle by the upstream withdrawal of water from the Gangas using the Farakka barrage.
A similar outcome could occur across north-eastern Bangladesh if India builds the Tipaimukh dam and Fulertali barrage on the Barak river. Like the Farakka, the Indian policy seems to be to keep Bangladesh guessing while completing its two projects.
Why should Bangladesh trust Indian assurances given from time to time, that India would not construct the dam and the barrage without Bangladesh's knowledge and consent. India repeatedly went back on its similar pledges with known consequences by now. From a position of no progress, India is now proceeding to award the contracts for the Tipaimukh dam and the Fulertali barrage. Only a year ago, India was trying to mislead Bangladesh on the issue by stating that there would be no diversion of water from the Barak for irrigation.
The Indian policy, as in the past, seems to be to keep Bangladesh in two minds while advancing with its undeclared agenda to make it a matter of fait accompli. The Tipaimukh dam and Fulertali barrage are no different. Bangladesh must act in time to neutralise the looming dangers.
Shamim Ahmed
Dept. of International Relations
University of Dhaka.