Tipaimukh dam and other issues
While welcoming the bilateral agreement between the Indian Foreign Minster and our Foreign Minister at New Delhi recently, I feel that what we got on Tipaimukh is “an assurance” and not an agreement to the effect that India would not do anything “which would adversely impact Bangladesh” as reported in The Daily Star of 11 September '09 .
It appears that India has not yet agreed to allow Bangladesh to have access into the scrutiny of facts on all aspects of Tipaimukh Dam and its effects / impacts on water availability in the two branches of river Barak i.e. Surma and Kushiara passing through Sylhet Division as well as Meghna and all other linked small rivers and canals.
I have in an article under the same title narrated in details the problems being faced by our people on the bank of Surma river in particular ever since 1947. Indian attitude to our country was hostile in those days and it continued till 1971 and even now. India had deployed their troops on our bank of the Surma claiming that the whole river belonged to them as it was a property of the then adjacent Cachar district of Assam. However, in the Mujib-Indira Agreement of 1974 it was agreed that the midstream of Surma would be the boundary between India and Bangladesh. Unfortunately Indian border guards still travel on boat in Surma, drop down at any point of our bank and destroy vegetable plantations by our people. They do not allow our people even to collect water. Since no mention of the Surma river has been made in the briefing of press by our foreign minister, I would appeal to our government to advise our people whether India has agreed to vacate half the Surma river for us to make use of it.
In case this matter has not been raised with India, I would request our government to kindly take up the matter in the next meeting with New Delhi.
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