An Australian Initiative to Save Nature

A small step to save nature and the environment from Australia

Dear Dr. Peter

CEO

ACAIR

Re: Proposed Tipai Mukh Dam by India - Violation of UN Convention on the Law of the Non navigational Uses of International Watercourses-1997

Honorable Dr. Peter:

Good day from Sydney, Australia. We, the downstream people of international river Barak, are writing this letter to draw your attention to the gross violation of UN Convention and recommendations of World Commission on Dams (WCD) by Indian Government. We are afraid that if Tipaimukh Dam is built by India on International Water courses at downstream of the confluence of Barak and Tuivai rivers near Tipaimukh village and it remains unabated, it would pose a great threat to the nature, environment and peoples of Bangladesh and turn Bangladesh into a desert. We also afraid if this injustice and Water crime continue, you might see the rise of political unrest and extremism in Bangladesh as we know all that injustice begets extremism.

The unilateral construction of Tipaimukh dam by India on this international river Barak is a violation of the article 9 of Bangladesh-India Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996. The Tipaimukh Dam project was entirely developed and approved without informing the government of Bangladesh or involving its people in any meaningful exercise to assess the downstream impacts of the dam. Bangladesh was not invited to participate, fully and actively in the decision-making process as a key stakeholder. This is clearly a gross violation of co-riparian rights of Bangladesh.

Dear High Commissioner, Rivers, watersheds and aquatic ecosystems are the biological engines and blood vessels of the planet. They are the basis for life and the livelihoods of local communities. Dams transform landscapes and create risks of irreversible impacts.

It is a water crime and one kind of state sponsored environmental terrorism against one hundred and forty million people of Bangladesh that is set to defeat justice, human rights and ecological systems of our motherland.

Indeed, today we are living in a world which is very volatile and vulnerable. By ignoring the emerging unlawful activities on international rivers, the international community can not escape from their obligation and duties to wards humanity, nature.

For your action against these inhumane activities we have enclosed relevant reports.

We must not betray our conscience!

Sincerely,

Ertaz Chowdhury, MIEAust, CPEng, NPER

Representative of Save Bangladesh, Sydney, Australia

Sources: Free Australia Now, Shonar Bangla, Do you care for nature and environment?, Who would like to destroy nature for greed?, Free America Now