Delhi invites Dhaka to inspect dam project to allay fears

August 23rd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh has decided not to recognise Kosovo as an independent Balkan state, rejecting a request from the US. Dhaka has made it clear that it would like to keep away (from the Kosovo issue), New Age newspaper said Sunday quoting Foreign Secretary Mirajul Quayes.

August 23rd, 2009 DHAKA - Ahead of Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni's visit to India Sep 7, Dhaka wants more information on Delhi's plan to build Tipaimukh dam in Manipur state, a senior official has said. Foreign Secretary Mirajul Quayes described last month's visit to India by a parliamentary team as "useful" and said the data supplied by India was being examined by a committee of experts, New Age newspaper reported Sunday.

July 29th, 2009 DHAKA - At least 10 people died and large parts of the national capital were inundated in a heavy downpour that broke a 53-year record, an official said. Dhaka ended its relatively dry spell, thanks to a delayed monsoon wherein 333 mm rain fell Monday and Tuesday.

July 28th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh will insist on a joint study to determine any adverse impact on its ecology that a dam India proposes to build near its border, a senior politician said Tuesday. A day before a Bangladesh team's departure for New Delhi, former Water Resource Minister Abdur Razzak was quoted by bdnews24.com as saying that pending such a study, he would seek a assurance that India will not go ahead with the project, nor divert water from the river that is common to both neighbours.

July 26th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's opposition parties have opted out of a team that will visit the site of the Tipaimukh dam in India's Manipur state. While Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has conveyed that their two lawmakers would not join it, a lone member of its Islamist ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Saturday said he had met with an accident and was unlikely to join.

July 13th, 2009 DHAKA - The prime ministers of Bangladesh and India are expected to meet this week on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit to discuss New Delhi's plan to construct the Tipaimukh dam in Manipur, a move that has triggered protests in Dhaka. Dhaka and New Delhi have indicated their willingness to talk on the issue as pressures have mounted on the Sheikh Hasina government, with opposition parties joining environmentalists to allege that the dam on the Barak river would deny Bangladesh its share of water and have deleterious effect on the environment.

June 24th, 2009 DHAKA - Retired career diplomat Ahmad Tariq Karim has been appointed the new high commissioner of Bangladesh to India. Brought back from voluntary retirement and a sabbatical in a US university, Karim was the deputy high commissioner in New Delhi in the 1980s.

June 20th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh has expressed confidence that India would do "nothing harmful" on a proposed river dam in Manipur state in north-eastern India, a minister has said. Dhaka would do "everything possible if the dam proves to be a threat to Bangladesh's environment", Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told reporters Friday.

June 19th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's political parties continue to spar over a river valley project India is planning in its northeastern region as New Delhi awaits a parliamentary team accompanied by experts to visit the project site. Finance Minister A.M.A.

June 16th, 2009 DHAKA - A Bangladeshi team of parliamentarians and water experts is to visit an Indian dam construction project to assess its possible ecological effects on the country, a parliamentary panel said Tuesday. "We have decided to send a delegation to India to witness its Tipaimukh project," said Abdur Razzak, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Water Resources Ministry.

May 27th, 2009 DHAKA - A team of lawmakers and experts from Bangladesh will visit the Tipaimukh project in India's northeast to study if it could adversely affect the flow of river Barak that is common to both the South Asian neighbours. The team was being dispatched by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following a proposal mooted earlier this month by India through its high commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty.

May 26th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia has opposed the government's move to join the Asian Highway, reiterating her stand that this would mean Dhaka conceding a "corridor" to neighbour India. This signals the opposition leader's further confrontation with the Sheikh Hasina government that is seeking to end isolation and sign a pact to join the project sponsored by the UN's Economic and Social Council for Asia Pacific (ESCAP).

May 24th, 2009 DHAKA - Congratulating Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress-led alliance on winning a second term in office, sections of Bangladesh media have said this is a good augury for development of positive relations within South Asia. But for that to happen, Delhi needs to "talk as a powerful neighbour, not a regional hegemon", Left-leaning New Age newspaper Sunday advised editorially.

January 29th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh has engaged a New Zealand-based consultant to design an over-5-km-long bridge on the Padma river to improve connectivity with its south-western region to eventually link up with the Trans-Asia highway, a media report said Friday. The 5.58 km long and 25 m wide bridge on the Padma will connect the southwestern area with Dhaka at Mawa in Munshiganj and Janjira in Madaripur.

January 27th, 2009 DHAKA - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government is poised to resume a project to upgrade the highway linking the national capital with Chittagong port city to speed up movement and curb accidents. The four-lane highway is to eventually link to the Asian Super Highway, The Daily Star newspaper said Wednesday.