THE parliamentary delegation has been to India and back after holding talks on the Tipai project with Indian authorities. It is a pity that the opposition BNP was not represented in the team. The idea of sending an all party delegation was a welcome one but couldn't come about because of BNP's unwillingness to participate.

Since it was the BNP who is the most strident critic of the project one would have thought that it is they who would have been die first to take the opportunity of a discussion with the Indians and put across their points of view regarding what they perceive to be the harmful consequences of the dam. The conclusion one might draw from it is that political considerations got the better of its judgment. Regrettably, the party put its interest above that of the country. And the Jamaat followed suit.

However, we are rather surprised at the clean chit given to the project by the leader of the parliamentary delegation on his return from India. He sees no harm to Bangladesh from the construction of the dam, having been fully satisfied with India's 'no damage' assurance. The delegation was not a technical mission and we are not sure what the basis of such a comment is apart from the Indian assurance.

We understand that Bangladesh is not in possession of all the relevant data to be able to assess the impact and formulate a position on it. In any case, a dam of any size invariably has an impact on the ecology, and certainly on the flow of water downstream. And there is no reason to think that Tipai dam would be an exception unless there is convincing evidence to the contrary. We are not certain that we have definitive answers to the queries on the type and scope of impact of Tipai project on Bangladesh. The team leader at best could have suggested steps like further study of project data and if need be conduct a joint assessment and arrive at a win win situation.

In light of the above we welcome the PM’s directive in this regard to set up an expert committee to study the project in detail to ascertain the nature and degree of the likely impact. In fact that is the way to proceed in order to be able to determine what our position on the issue ought to be.

We alsb feel that the fnhtter, being one of Serious public concern, must come into the realm of public discourse. To start with, the government should make public the data it has received so far, if any, on the project.