Tipaimukh Dam

Villagers Protest Tipaimukh Dam (Photo Courtesy of ACATP)

For the last 15 years, communities in both Manipur State (northeast India) and Bangladesh have resisted the proposed Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River. The 163-meter dam has sparked controversy in both countries over India’s failure to provide public consultations and information sharing with both Bangladesh and indigenous communities. The Indian state-owned utility North East Electric Power Corporation Ltd. (NEEPCO) originally built the dam to control floods but now plans to generate electricity with the dam, which has a capacity of 1500 MW. Most of the electricity would be sold to cities outside the region. According to the Sinlung Indigenous People Human Rights Organization (SIPHRO) of India, “the process for choosing [the project premises] ignored both the indigenous people and the recommendations of the WCD (World Commission on Dams)."

Lalakhal River in Sylhet is one the first phase victims of Tipaimukh Dam in India. Photo: Zakir Hossain, Krisoker Saar (Farmer's Voice)

The Shimulbhanga Canal will likely be impacted by the Tipaimukh Dam in northeastern Indian, including reduced flows from the north and salt-water intrusion from the Bay of Bengal in the south. Photo: Zakir Hossain, Krisoker Saar (Farmer's Voice)

Photo Courtesy of ACATP

• From September 2009 World Rivers Review

The proposed Tipaimukh High Dam would dam the Barak River 500 meters downstream from the confluence of its tributary the Tuivai River in Manipur State. More than half of the 900-kilometre-long Barak falls within India; its lower half drains Bangladesh. The Barak system is the second largest drainage system in Northeast India. The entire riverine ecosystem of the Barak River Basin supports an endemic agrarian civilization thriving on biodiversity-based agro-ecological systems that have profound local and global significance.

Protest in Bangladesh against the environmental clearance of Tipaimukh Dam in India, 2008. The dam will submerge 292 sq km, affecting 91 villages in India, and people in Bangladesh are concerned that the project will drastically and adversely alter river flow in the downstream region in Bangladesh, with severe social and environmental consequences.

The construction of Tipaimukh Dam by India on the international Barak river raises a number of questions in relation to successful implementation of World Commission on Dams (WCD) recommendation on Gaining Public Acceptance (GPA) for large dams. The government of India has never officially informed the lower riparian state of Bangladesh about the construction of the dam although experts fear that the dam would have adverse environmental impact on Bangladesh that share the same river basin.