BDR cuts short 'long march' to Tipaimukh

[Source: TOI]

SILCHAR, Aug 11, 2009: BSF has stepped up security along the Indo-Bangla border following an attempt by about 5,000 Bangladeshi protesters to march into Indian
territory to oppose the construction of the controversial 1,500-MW Tipaimukh Multipurpose Hydel Project in Manipur.

Quoting reports from the border, Indian officials said Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel on Monday "stopped the protesters who were on their way to the dam site". The march was stopped at Jakiganj and Amlshid in Bangladesh.
"The situation is under control. But we are alert," said J K Birdi, an officer from the BSF (193rd battalion) that guards the Silchar sector of the frontier.

Bangladeshis fear that the proposed dam on the Barak River may cause a water shortage in their country. Similarly, people in Manipur and Mizoram are also against the project, which they claim, will trigger largescale displacement in their villages.

The protesters belonged to the Bangladesh-based Tipaimukh Dam Resistance Committee and Sylhet Division Unnayan Sangram Committee that together had begun a "long march" to the project site to the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on August 8. The agitators reached the border via Sylhet, nearly 290 km north-east of Dhaka, on Monday afternoon.

The protesters organized a mass gathering at Jakiganj near the frontier and criticized India's decision to build the dam. They were joined by the leaders of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and Jamat-e-Islami, a hardline Bangladeshi outfit.

"Bangladesh will suffer huge economic and environmental losses if the Tipaimukh dam comes up," Jamat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rehman Nizami said.

Bangladesh authorities pressed police and personnel of the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and BDR into service to stop the protesters from crossing the international border. On the other hand, BSF deployed seven speed boats to prevent any intrusion by the Bangladeshi marchers through the riverine border.

The Indian officials said the protesters did not get any support from the people living in the border areas of Bangladesh.