Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen yesterday said any dam is harmful but that may be useful too if relation between the countries concerned remains 'good'.

He made the observations while talking to reporters at his Secretariat office about the India's move to construct the controversial Tipaimukh dam and its impact on Bangladesh.

The minister claimed that he knew nothing about the information that India has sent to the foreign ministry about the dam.

“It does not matter whether the information is correct or not. The matter is that our parliamentary team will visit the site of the dam to know the details about it,” he added.

Ramesh said the government is working to fix a date for the visit of the parliamentary team to the planned site of the dam on the cross-border river Barak in the

Indian state of Monipur, and it is unwise to come to a conclusion before the visit.

“The issue will be discussed in parliament after the parliamentary team submits its report on return," he said, adding that the committee will decide the date on July 13 to be approved by the foreign ministry.

Asked whether the BNP has been protesting against the dam to cover up its Chairperson Khaleda Zia's cantonment residence issue, Ramesh said opposition will always look for issues and urged the BNP not to oppose the issue for the sake of opposition.

Political parties and sections concerned have been protesting the construction of the dam asking India to scrap the plan for the sake of environmental disaster both in India and Bangladesh.

India has decided to construct the controversial dam without consultation with Bangladesh.