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some knowledge of the matter. India initiated the dam following a request from the then Awami League foreign minister, Abdus Samad Azad, and in that sense, we brought this catastrophe upon ourselves,” the speaker said while drawing the lawmaker’s attention after the minister concluded his reply.

India started the construction of Tipaimukh Dam in 2003 to generate electricity. The construction was halted due to national and international uproar and resistance against probable environmental degradation in and outside India.

The construction resumed in late 2008. In joint declarations made after summits between the premiers of Bangladesh and India, then Indian PM Manmohan Singh assured his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina that New Delhi would not take any step regarding their planned Tipaimukh Dam that may harm Bangladesh.

The Tipaimukh Dam is located near the confluence of the Barak and the Tuivai rivers in the Tipaimukh sub-division of the Churachandpur district of Manipur. This area is close to the Manipur-Mizoram-Assam border, and therefore the project involves the three states in Northeast India. The Barak river, which flows downstream to meet the Surma river system in Bangladesh, is considered to be the lifeline of the Sylhet region in Bangladesh.