The Dam is estimated to generate 1500 MW of hydroelectric power, though the original consideration was to contain flood-water in the Cachar plains of the Indian state of Assam (D’Costa 2012: 153 Ahmed 2012: 52). The Barak River which flows downstream to join the Surma and Kushiara river systems in Bangladesh is considered to be the lifeline of the Sylhet region in Bangladesh. Commissioned by India in mid 2000s, the Dam site lies in contiguity with two other states-Assam and Mizoram, that implies the involvement of three states of Northeast India in the project. Its reservoir will have a water storage capacity of 15,900 million cubic meters with a maximum depth of 1725.5 meters (Islam 2013: 156). Theis Dam is spotted 500 meters downstream from the flowing rivers of Barak and Tuivai and sited in the south-western corner of Manipur state of India. Officially called the Tipaimukh Multipurpose Hydroelectric Dam Project (henceforth the Tipaimukh Dam) on the Barak River Footnote 4 is just 1 km north of Zakiganj in Sylhet, Bangladesh. The debates have gradually transcended the realm of government officials and academics, and transformed into various modes of protests and resistance in India, Bangladesh, and beyond. India’s unilateral plan has prompted a wide range of debate and discussion on its merit in both India and Bangladesh (Mirza 2009). Footnote 2 Nevertheless, the debate with Farakka Barrage and the Gajoldoba Barrage Footnote 3 on the Teesta River is conceived to be overshadowed by India’s recent decision to build another Dam, now at the Tipaimukh on the river Barak. India’s decisions to build diversion constructions in international rivers and the arbitrary control of transnational rivers’ waters leading Bangladesh to suffer economically, socially and ecologically have triggered unending debates and resistances over the years. Furthermore, Bangladesh River water is pumped stealthily from border-rivers by entities on the Indian side (Adel 2012). In some border rivers, India has set up groins on her side of the river banks. The largest one is upon the Ganges River commonly known as the Farakka Barrage, which puts Bangladesh’s ecosystem at stake. However, India has set up constructions for water diversion in more than 50 percent of these rivers. Footnote 1 Needless to say, historically these rivers are very important, playing a vital part in many ways in people’s lives, such as, in agriculture and fisheries, vegetation and greenery, urban and rural water supplies, and navigation and communication. Lower-riparian Bangladesh and upper-riparian India share more than 50 international rivers (Adel 2012: 528 Riaz 2011: 106 Islam 1992: 204 Ahmed 2012: 51 Afroz and Rahman 2013: 100). In order to elucidate the impending social and ecological impacts, which would potentially disrupt communities in South Asia, the paper offers some pragmatic policy recommendations that also seek to augment social mobility in the region. Drawing on the “environmentalism of the poor” as a conceptual metaphor, the article examines this global movement to show how environmental resistance against the Tipaimukh Dam has transcended national borders and taken on a transnational form by examining such questions as: who is protesting, why, in what ways, and with what effects. The movement has taken various forms, ranging from simple protests to a submission of a petition to the United Nations. Therefore, this controversial Dam project has generated immense public discontents leading to wider mass-movements in Bangladesh, India, and around the world. Experts have argued that the Dam, when completed, would cause colossal disasters to Bangladesh and India, with the former being vastly affected: the Dam would virtually dry up the Surma and Kushiara, two important rivers for Bangladesh. The construction work was stalled in March 2007 in the wake of massive protests from within and outside India. The Indian government recently resumed the construction of the Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River just 1 km north of Bangladesh’s north-eastern border.
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