& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

First Tipai info, then site visit

Roundtable stresses analysis of detailed project information

Staff Correspondent
Visiting Tipaimukh dam site by the parliamentary committee will in no way be wise without having adequate information about the project, Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) President Professor Muzaffer Ahmad said yesterday.
"Enjoying India's hospitality will bring no notable benefit for the country without having detailed information. So, first get information about the dam, get analysis of the experts and then talk to India,” he said.
Professor Muzaffer was speaking at a roundtable titled “Tipaimukh Dam Prevention: United Movement" held at the National Press Club. International Tipaimukh Dam Prevention Committee and Sylhet Division Development Action Council jointly organised the roundtable.
This is not a matter of political debate or being anti-Indian, he said, adding "We must have national unity and clear idea about the issue. We are on the way of justice, and will win as we didin 1971."
The Bapa president said the southwestern and northern parts of the country are bearing the brunt of Farakka Barrage, and now another part has become the target o (Tipaimukh Dan. He said one cannot be a friend by destroying lands and water of another (country).
“It is a rape of nature that is what will happen if Tipaimukh Dam is constructed," Professor Muzaffer said, adding that no government can sustain ignor-ingpublic interests.
Speaking at the roundtable, BNP leader and former water resources minister major (retd) Hafizuddin called for national unity to resist construction of the Indian dam project.
“Don't depend on politicians. Depend on people and create mass opinion like that of 1971, India will be compelled to sit and negotiate for resolving the problem," he said.
Refuting the government's claim that the BNP did not protest against the project during its rule, Hafizuddin said “It is actually Awami League that did not raise the issue during the Joint Rivers Commission meetings."
He called for Unking the
green movements worldwide to explain the environmental aspects of the dam project.
Former UN environment expert Dr SI Khan in his keynote presentation said sixty percent of the country would be a desert as a result of Tipaimukh Dam, and Farakka Barrage which has already caused salinity in the southwestern parts and deserti -fication process in the north.
The rate of earthquakes and arsenic in the underground water will also increase significantly in the country if the dam is constructed, he said.
International Tipaimukh Dam Prevention Committee Convenor ANM Isa said Bangladeshi expatriates all over the world remain united to resist buildingTipaimukh dam.
"We have promised to continue the movement unless and until we realise our rights," he said, adding that the land, which has been achieved as a result of abloody war, cannot be destroyed.
Former chief election commissioner Justice Abdur Rouf. ASM Abdur Rab, former chairman of Red Crescent Society Dr Abdur Rab, BrigGen (retd) Nasir also spoke at the meeting while Sylhet Division Development Action Council President Abed Raja moderated it.