Editorial
Fact-finding delegation to Tipaimukh
Inform the people fully and expeditiously
The news we have been anxiously waiting for has come about. But not in as complete a form and with as much sense of immediacy as we would have liked it to be. Even so, we welcome the initiative getting underway now through the formation of a nine-member parliamentary team including some experts as well, against the backdrop of a raging controversy interspersed with trepidation centring on the question of India constructing Tipaimukh Dam.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's decision was to send an all-party lawmakers' delegation to the site to assess the situation first-hand and report back to parliament for deliberation and taking a stance on. However, the team that has been formed does not include any BNP lawmaker, although a Jamaat-e-Islami MP is in it. Actually, what has happened bears a mark of ingenuity in that all the members of the JS standing committee on water resources ministry have simply co-opted into the parliamentary delegation. In a sense, therefore, it is representative, but not wholly representative, because BNP, the main opposition party which has so much to say on the issue, is left out. So, we would urge the government to earnestly try and include BNP in the fact-finding mission.
It is of utmost importance, given the lack of official knowledge about the Tipaimukh Dam that the fact-finding team is sent to the site expeditiously so that they can get to grips with all the details and ramifications of the massive Indian project keeping the interests of the lower riparian Bangladesh uppermost in their mind. Actually, longer it takes to undertake the visit greater will be the confusion.
For, even before undertaking the trip, Abdur Razzak, MP, head of the parliamentary delegation, has taken the experts to task for what he said 'commenting on Tipaimukh Dam without having necessary information'. To our mind, the honourable member can be blamed for the same reason that he is accusing the experts of. If he had sufficient information on the project he should have shared it with the parliament, the media and the experts. Isn't the visit of the delegation he is heading all about gathering sufficient information on Tipaimukh Dam? So, why is he commenting on it before making the trip?
We believe it is important that more of our experts of national and international repute as well as media representatives, both print and electronic, should be involved in the appraisal missions. People must be fully informed about this dam and whatever action our government decides to take later must have the people's backing behind it.
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