The planned project will obstruct flows of the Surma and the Kushiyara in Bangladesh, threatening the eco-system greater Sylhet region and in the entire Meghna basin, the protesters and environmentalists say.

The meandering Barak river flowing through Manipur, Mizoram and Assam in India enters Bangladesh at Amolshid in Jakiganj and meets the Surma and the Kushiyara.

Several organisations have announced programmes for Long March to the Indian border to protest the move.

The Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) will begin its Long March from the capital on March I and reach Sylhet on the following day, the party announced at a rally in Sylhet on Friday.

It (Tipaimukh embankment) will be another Farakka and we have to resist the move at any cost, speakers at the rally said.

A desertification process will start in the entire Meghna basin because of withdrawal of water, speakers at the rally said. It was presided over by BSD leader Badal Roy.

They said the project has been opposed even by people of Manipur.

They called upon the people irrespective of political opinions to join the protest and resist the move. BSD is now holding meetings with different socio-cultural organisations and professional groups to make its programme a success, party sources said yesterday.

The Aggression Resistance Committee, a newly formed body to resist the move, will start its 'long march' to Indian border in Sylhet on March 9 from Dhaka. It is now holding wayside rallies and processions and distributing posters and leaflets in Sylhet city and in other areas of the district.

Moulana Muhiuddin Khan, Convener of the committee, attended the programmes in Sylhet.

Jamat-e-Islami, a component of the four-party ruling alliance, also protested the Indian move and will announce a programme after its Sylhet divisional council scheduled for March 4, local leaders of the party said yesterday.

Another partner of the ruling alliance -- Khelafat Majlish -- has also planned protest programmes. Its chief Moulana Azizul Haque at several meetings in Sylhet last week said it will launch protest programmes soon.

Central leaders of main opposition party Awami Legaue in its grand rally held in Sylhet on February 19 strongly protested the Indian move.

Former foreign minister Abdus Samad Azad MP in his speech at the rally said implementation of Tipaimukh embankment and hydro-electric project will create a disaster in greater Sylhet region as well as in the whole of Meghna basin.

"We will have to raise a united protest against the move".

He also criticised the Bangladesh government, saying it could not handle the matter because of its wrong foreign policy.

"There should be a united protest irrespective of political affiliations", he had said.

When contacted yesterday, Sylhet district Awami League President ANM Shafique said, "We are observing the situation. Steps will be finalised by central leaders.

The move by the Indian central government is also being protested by people in Manipur, Assam and Mizoram, earlier press reports said.

At least 40,000 aborigines and the ecology will be affected in the three Indian states.

The project was planned about a decade ago but could not be implemented in the face of protests by people under the banner of Tipaimukh Embankment Resistance Committee in Manipur.