The question which is being raised in different forums here today, is whether the dam would become another irritation like the Farakka Barrage in bilateral relations between the two countries. There had been strains in relations between the two neighbours for long over the sharing of waters of the Ganges. India's unilateral withdrawal of the Ganges waters, ignoring the right of the lower riparian Bangladesh, was even raised in the UN.

The cost of the Tipaimukh Dam project, which will be implemented in six phases, has been estimated at Indian Rupees 5,163 crore. The work of the project, which was started in 2003, is scheduled to be completed by the year 2011 and the North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPC) has been assigned the task of its implementation.

The implementation of the project would cause drastic decline in the water flow of the river Meghna and its tributaries resulting in adverse effects on agriculture and its sub sectors in 12 districts in Bangladesh. The rivers Surma and Kushiara are likely to suffer most, which would lead to desertification process of the whole of Sylhet region

The project, when implemented, would also cause adverse effects in some parts of India including Assam, Monipur, and Mizoram states. The Farakka Barrage which was implemented for improving navigability of the Kolkata port, instead of improving the situation has made it worse.

India has so far erected 35 dams and barrages after the construction of the Farakka Barrage on the river Ganges along Bangladesh borders without any discussion with Dhaka with which it shares 54 common rivers.

Bangladesh, which is crisscrossed by rivers, had nearly 1,000 rivers before the Farakka Barrage. The number of rivers now has come down to 250. Two dozen rivers have disappeared from the map of the country while 17 others have become canal-like shallow following interventions on the common rivers. The waterways of Bangladesh, which were roughly 24,000 km, stand at 4,500 km following the construction of the Farakka on the Ganges.

If there is no discussion between Dhaka and New Delhi on issues like the Tipaimukh Dam, neighbourly relations between the two countries is sure to suffer. It is high time that both sides sat together, not only in a spirit of good neighbourliness, but also in Saarc spirit for a mutually acceptable solution to the issue.

Indian minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi who attended the 36th Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting in September last in Bangladesh, had assured Dhaka that his country would not take up any project, which could be harmful to Bangladesh.

If required, the drawings of the Tipaimukh Dam would be provided to Dhaka, was his another word of assurance.

Nothing is heard about the talks between the two sides over the dam since then.

Priya Ranjan Das Munshi has been replaced by Santosh Mohan Dev as India's Minister for Water Resources.

In recent months, there had been several exchange of visits at various levels between the two countries indicating signs of improvement in their ties. It is hoped that the trend would continue and issues including the Tipaimukh Dam would not be allowed to become another Farakka-like issue.

Former Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh during his visit to Dhaka on August 6-8 said: "The government of India attaches the highest importance to relations with Bangladesh and we are committed to strengthening the relationship through dialogue on the basis of friendship, trust, and understanding."

The issues which cause irritation in relations between Bangladesh and India include the sharing of water, trade imbalance, border security, and erection of barbed wire fencing along the border, ignoring the Mujib-Indira land boundary agreement of 1974.

Besides, there are allegations and counter-allegations over sheltering of terrorists in each other's territory.

The exchange of enclaves in adverse possession is another issue of irritation in relations between the two sides. India's "push in" issue also causes concern in Dhaka as there are occasional attempts to push in Bengali speaking Indian Muslims and Hindus to Bangladesh territory.

Some measures towards improvement of ties have, however, been initiated through introduction of some bus services between the two countries. Nothing is, however, heard about New Delhi's response to Dhaka's request for introducing Dhaka-Kathmandu bus service.

Dhaka made a proposal to New Delhi for introduction of direct Dhaka-Shiliguri, Dhaka Shilong, and Dhaka-Guwahati bus services at Foreign Secretary level meeting last June. Whether there is any progress to the request is not known.

What is important is looking at things with a positive frame of mind. In the light of apparent improvement in relations following the holding of the 13th Saarc Summit, it is hoped that both Dhaka and New Delhi would sit together in finding acceptable solution to the Tipaimukh Dam and also mega river linking projects. India, however, has to extend its hands of cooperation first, as some of the irritations in bilateral relations are its own creations.

The summit level meeting between the two sides is expected to take place soon as Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia is scheduled to undertake a visit to India also in her capacity as Saarc chairperson. The bilateral issues are expected to be touched at the bilateral meeting between the two heads of government, paving the way for further improvement of relations between Dhaka and New Delhi.

Nurul Huda is a Special Correspondent of BSS.