JS team goes to Tipaimukh on July 29 without BNP

UNB, Dhaka

The government eventually decided to send an 11-member parliamentary team for a spot visit to India's Tipaimukh Dam site on July 29, apparently keeping uncertain the main opposition BNP's participation in the tour of inspection.
An official announcement Sunday said the decision came from the sixth meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources Ministry held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban earlier in the day. Committee chairman and former Water Resources Minister Md Abdur Razzaque presided over the meeting. Committee-members Water Resources Minister Romesh Chandra Sen, ABM Ruhul Amin Hawladar, Md Abdur Rahman, AKM Fazlul Haque, Abdullah Al Jacob, ABM Anwarul Haque and Mohammad Fazlul Azim joined the meeting.
Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and ex-PM Khaleda Zia had sent a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seeking cooperation in sending a separate delegation to the proposed Tipaimukh dam site.
The letter contained names of six nominated members of the delegation. They include two former BNP ministers-MK Anwar and Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed-former water resources secretary Mohammad Asafuddoula, former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Maniruzzaman Miah, former director of Water Development Board Sharif Rafiqul Islam and water-expert Prof M Abdur Rab.
A three-member BNP delegation led by party joint secretary Nazrul Islam Khan handed the letter to prime minister's Assignment Officer Manoj Kanti Boral and Protocol Officer Proloy Kumar Joardar at Prime Minister's Office.
The BNP chairperson sent the letter following the Prime Minister's call on June 24 to the opposition to send a separate team for the dam-site visit, as they declined to join the parliamentary delegation unless water experts were included.
Khaleda in her letter to Hasina wrote that 'in the interest of the nation BNP has agreed to send a separate delegation, incorporating water experts, to visit the Tipaimukh-dam site'.