Jatiya Party chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad has warned that construction of Tipaimukh dam on River Barak across the border in India will spell disaster for Bangladesh.
Urging the government to take immediate step to hold discussion with India over the issue, Ershad reiterated that implementation of Tipaimulh project must be stopped at any cost, ‘Even at the cost of our lives.’
He said India had no right to build the dam unilaterally on a river it shared with Bangladesh.
‘I’ll rather lay my life but won’t allow them to go ahead with the project,’ the former
president warned.
Ershad sounded the warning at a rally on Sunday, organised by Golapganj unit JP held at the upazila town, on his way to border upazila Jakiganj.
He said once implemented the project would dry up eight rivers, including Surma, Khowai, Khusiara, also partly affect River Meghna, spelling doom for several north, east and southeast districts of the country. ‘After going to Jakiganj we will make such a jarring, loud sound against the dam that it will deafen their ear,’ the JP chief said.
Terming Tipaimukh a death trap, Ershad said the government must hold talks with India to conduct a joint survey before the neighbouring country progressed with the project.
Refuting allegations made by some leaders of Awami League, the leader of the ruling alliance to which
Ershad‘s JP belongs, he asserted that he was leading the long march from the country’s capital to the land of saints only to safeguard the holy land against India’s ecological aggression and not to seek vote.
After an overnight halt in Sylhet, Ershad’s convoy reached Golapganj town in the morning and headed to Jakiganj where he would address the final public meeting before heading back for Dhaka.
