India, Bangladesh to jointly combat terror, discuss Tipaimukh dam

September 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Water Resource Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal met visiting Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni on Wednesday to discuss a dam project which is being built by India on the Barak river. India has approved plans for a 1,500 megawatt project at Tipaimukh on the river, which flows through both countries before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

September 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's trip here later this year, India and Bangladesh will hold talks Tuesday on sensitive issues like the contentious Tipaimukh hydroelectric project and discuss steps to invigorate trade and combat terrorism. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni arrived here Monday on a four-day visit - her first official visit to New Delhi after Sheikh Hasina rode to power in Dhaka following a landslide victory in December polls last year.

September 6th, 2009 DHAKA - A "congenial ambience" between Bangladesh and India would be of help when issues like Tipaimukh dam, trade and transit are taken up during the visit of Foreign Minister Dipu Moni to New Delhi in the coming week. Political and diplomatic observers see a congenial ambience in place with an Awami League government in Dhaka and a Congress-led government in Delhi.

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.

August 13th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will be in India early next month to discuss the Tipaimukh dam issue and to follow up on assurances given to a parliamentary delegation that went to study the site. Moni told the media Wednesday that details of her visit were being worked out and that the visit could be in the first week of September.

July 24th, 2009 DHAKA - China has expressed support for talks between Dhaka and New Delhi over the proposed construction of Tipaimukh dam in India's Manipur state. The Barak river, on which the dam is to be built, flows from China into India and then goes to Bangladesh.

July 19th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for political unity to be able to "bargain better with India" over the contentious Tipaimukh dam issue between the South Asian neighbours. "Tipaimukh issue is a national problem.

July 18th, 2009 DHAKA - Urging India to cancel plans to build a dam in an area near the Bangladesh border, opposition leader Khaleda Zia Saturday exhorted the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina "not to bow" to India on the issue. Zia offered the government "full cooperation" in resisting India's plans to construct a dam on the Barak river at Tipaimukh in Manipur, saying it would have disastrous impact on the environment in both countries, bdnews24.com news agency reported.

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.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In the first high-level contact between the two countries since the United Progressive Alliance government here began its second tenure, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday held talks with visiting Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni on bilateral issues, including the row over a proposed hydel dam in India's north-east.

July 7th, 2009 DHAKA - India's plan to build the Tipaimukh dam on the Barak river could benefit Bangladesh, a minister has said, urging a patient approach by all concerned as Dhaka prepares to send a team to visit the project site. The delay in finalising the team was because the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was yet to nominate its members, Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen said Monday.

July 2nd, 2009 DHAKA - Asking India not to start work on the Tipaimukh dam project, Dhaka said it was sending a team of lawmakers and experts next month to visit the site before taking up the contentious issue with New Delhi. Foreign Minister Dipu Moni made the announcement even as pressure mounted against the Sheikh Hasina government to take "political measures" against India to stop building the Tipaimukh dam on Barak river in Manipur state.

June 25th, 2009 DHAKA - Opposition leader Khaleda Zia is free to send her own team to see the Tipaimukh dam project in India, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said while reiterating her decision to send an all-party parliamentary team to look it up. Accusing her political rival of seeking political mileage out of the proposed dam project on Barak river in India's Manipur state, Hasina assured that her government would study the reports submitted by both teams and decide "in the best interest of the country".

June 23rd, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's main opposition leader Khaleda Zia has written a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that India should stop building the Tipaimukh dam in its north-eastern region. The Tipaimukh dam on the Barak river is in India's Manipur state.

March 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Expressing sympathies over the terror attack on a Pakistani police academy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday that both countries should jointly take on terrorists. 'I have always said that India and Pakistan have to face jointly the scourge of terrorism,' he told reporters on the sidelines of the civil investiture ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.