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Kathmandu Friday August 03, 2001 Shrawan 19, 2058.
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Whither joint committees ?
Several months after India unashamedly and
unilaterally started construction of the Marchawar barrage, some 200 meters from the
Nepal-India border in Rupendehi district, the Nepali government is finally at work to save
several villages in the vicinity of the birthplace of Lord Buddha, or so it says. It was
only when protests against India’s unfriendly act flared up that the government woke
up from its slumber. For now, it has dispatched personnel for carrying out a joint
inspection of the barrage site and doing the needful. It may be recalled that the
government adopted the same tactic when there was controversy over the Laxmanpur barrage
last year. There is an Indo-Nepal Standing Committee on Inundation Problems (SCIP) in
place. But its existence seems to have made little difference to construction of the
Marchawar barrage. A SCIP meeting back in January agreed on sending officers from India
and Nepal to study the potential problems. But a joint report has yet to come out.
Whenever a controversial barrage or bundh comes up, the government sends down "a team
of experts" for inspection and they return with tales of woe to make recommendations,
which go largely unheeded. Had there been more vigilance on our part, India would have had
second thoughts before constructing any Marchawar type structure in violation of
international rules and practices. Such a lax attitude has sent a wrong signal and served
to embolden Delhi in its wayward ways. Against this background, the new inspection team
has naturally generated some skepticism.
Even as the two sides dilly-dally, several VDCs
in Rupendehi district have been submerged in the wake of flooding in the Danav river,
triggered by incessant rain. This is just a taste of the menace. The yet-to-be completed
six metre high Rasiyal-Khurda-Lutan or Murchawar barrage across the Danav threatens to
submerge the birthplace of Lord Buddha and over 200 villages, affecting one million
people. India had gone ahead with the barrage without seeking approval from up stream
Nepal, in clear breach of international norms and oblivious to our sensitivities. This is
not the first time either. Accustomed to riding roughshod over the sovereignty of smaller
countries in the neighbourhood, India has been throwing up barrages and bundhs where it
will near the border since decades back. This is an old story. And in doing so, it has not
only violated understanding between the two countries, but also caused untold misery to
local inhabitants on our side. The last in the series was the devastating impact of the
Laxmanpur barrage. The effect of Marchawar might be worse. Throwing up joint committees
and ad hocism has obviously not helped much. What is needed henceforth is very close
monitoring for raising an alarm long before a situation gets bad, and the annual monsoon
is upon us. It is also time the brand new Deuba government discarded the pro-Indian image
of the Nepali Congress (NC). Coincidentally or otherwise, almost all controversial
barrages and dams in the border stretch have come up when the NC is in power.
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