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JS team goes to Tipai July 29

Assessment report after 6-day visit; JRC meeting if any negative sign found; names of 2 BNP MPs sought again

Staff Correspondent
The parliamentary delegation for visiting Tipaimukh dam site in India will leave Dhaka on July 29 to make a preliminary assessment of the impacts die proposed dam may have on Bangladesh.
"We are going to visit the dam site and submit a report to the government upon returning from the six-day visit," said Abdur Razzaq, chief of the parliamentary standing committee on water resources ministry who will lead the 10-member delegation.
"The 'government and experts will analyse information in the report and decide the next course of actions," he said
at a press briefing at the Jatiya Sangsad media centre yesterday
Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen meanwhile said yesterday if the parliamentary delegation sees any possibility that the dam may have negative impacts on Bangladesh, the government will call a meeting of the Joint River Commission (JRC) to solve the issue.
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh will be present at that JRC meeting.
"We will resist construction of the dam with the support of the people of the country if the parliamentary delegation's findings show the dam would be harmful for Bangladesh," Ramesh said at a discus-
sion meeting in the capital.
The delegation includes six lawmakers, three government officials and one water expert from Bangladesh University ofEngineeringandTechnology(Buet).
The main opposition BNP is yet to send the names of its lawmakers for the delegation. Razzaq again urged Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia yesterday to send names of two of her party lawmakers.
A lawmaker of Jamaat-c-Islami, a component of the BNP-led four-party alliance, has been included in the team. He is also a member of the parliamentary body on water resources ministry. At the briefing, Razzaq strongly criticised Khaleda for "hiding" a survey report on Tipaimukh project prepared during the rule of BNP in 1993. SNC-Lavalin International, Northwest Hydraulic Consultants and four consultant firms of Bangladesh prepared the report and the World Bank funded the survey.
Razzaq said, "BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Saturday's meeting did not mention the findings of the survey that said occurrence of flood will decrease in the Barak. Surma and Kushiara rivers because of theTipaimulh dam."
Quoting from the survey report, he said because of the dam th^.a^punt pF
will decrease by 20 percent and water level in the Surma and Kushiara will decrease by 1.60 metres during floods.
Razzaq alleged that former secretary ANH Akhtar Hossain, who presented the information on Tipaimukh dam at the programme, does not have any knowledge on the issue.
"It can be assumed that all information and data presented at the programme were based on assumption and political motivation to confuse people," Razzaq said at the press briefing.
Asked if the Awami League is supporting construction of the Tipaimukh dam by citing information from the survey. Razzaq said, "We are not talking in favour ofTipaimukh dam, we are just saying BNP hid this information at their meeting."
He claimed that the 1978 government agreed at a JRC meeting to examine different aspects of the Tipaimukh dam project. In September 2003, the issue was discussed at the 35th meeting of the JRC when BNP leader Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed was the water resources minister.
Razzaq claimed that Hafiz at that time did not object to construction of the Tipaimukh
dam.
He alleged that a certain quarter is trying to sour the relation between Bangladesh and its neighbour at a time when the governments of the two countries are heading towards a solution on the issue.
Other political figures in the delegation are Jatiya Party lawmaker ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Hamidur Rahman Azad and Awami League lawmakers Abdur Rahim. AKM Fazlul Haq and ABM Anwarul Haq. The delegation also has one official each from the water resources ministry, foreign ministry and the JRC. Dr Monwar Hossain, dean of water , resources .department• at. Buet. is the only water expert in the team.