Zia criticises India’s Tipaimukh dam project again

September 30th, 2009 SHIMLA - Hydropower majors Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL) and NHPC Ltd will jointly set up a mega power project in Manipur at an investment of Rs.9,000 crore. "SJVNL is executing the 1,500-MW Tipaimukh hydropower project in Manipur in partnership with NHPC and the Manipur government," H.K.

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 31st, 2009 IMPHAL - A 10-member Bangladeshi parliamentary delegation visited the Tipaimukh dam in India's Manipur Friday following the opposition in Dhaka over the hydel project's possible ecological impact. The delegation, led by parliament water resources standing committee chairman Abdur Razzaq, held a meeting with Indian Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in New Delhi Thursday before arriving in Manipur Friday.

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 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 14th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh has postponed the visit of a team of lawmakers and water resources experts to the site of the Tipaimukh dam project in India as it awaits the finalisation of the tour dates after their leaders meet during the NAM summit. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has left for Egypt's Sharm-al-Shaikh town to attend the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on its sidelines, media reports said Tuesday.

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 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 3rd, 2009 DHAKA - The Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh has not committed any diplomatic impropriety while speaking 'frankly' during a discussion on the Tipaimukh dam project, a minister has said. The Indian high commissioner had allegedly called Bangladeshi water resources specialists protesting India's Tipaimukh dam project "so called experts" June 3.

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 30th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed confidence over resolving the controversy over the Tipaimukh dam project in India's northeast through talks with New Delhi. She reminded parliament Monday that she had resolved the dispute over the Ganga water by signing a bilateral treaty with India during her earlier tenure in 1997.

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.

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.