Speakers at a seminar in Sylhet yesterday expressed concern over the Indian initiative to construct Tipaimukh dam defying objection of the people of Bangladesh and India's north-eastern region.

"Tipaimukh dam would be a great threat for Bangladesh's existence as one third of the country would face desertification due to withdrawal of water for the mega project," for-mer chief Justice Mahmudul Amin Chowdhury said in his address as chief guest.

"Four crore people will be affected. So, we have to be united on the issue. The Bangladesh government

has to make their stance clear over the Tipai issue," Chowdhury added.

At the seminar organised by Tipai Bandh Sammilita Sangram Parishad at the district Bar association hall, Manarat University Vice Chancellor Professor MA Rab read out a paper titled 'Tipaimukh Dam, a Death Trap for Bangladesh'.

The dam will badly reduce the flow of Surma and Kushiyara rivers in winter and trigger river erosion and flood in the rainy season, making hundreds of thousands of people of greater Sylhet region homeless, speakers said at the seminar.

The dam will also affect the Meghna River, create severe water crisis in Bangladesh's north-eastern region, greatly affect agriculture and threaten food security, they said.

According to Indian media report, construction work for Tipaimukh dam will start within a few weeks and complete by the end of 2012, they added.

Fishermen, river transport workers and owners and others whose liveli-

hood is linked to uninterrupted flow of Surma, Kushiyara and Meghna rivers have voiced grave concern over attempt to build Tipaimukh dam, they said, adding that experts in India said the dam would affect Monipur and Assam states too.