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Kathmandu Thursday February 08, 2001 Magh 26, 2057.
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Stick to
treaty
News reports that India has unilaterally
conducted a survey for a multipurpose high dam site at Purnagiri, cannot be taken lightly.
Past experience shows that India has constructed dams in violation of international law.
Any such technical study undertaken without Nepal’s involvement, no matter what it is
intended for, should not be allowed. A move in the name of a technical study undertaken by
India alone, even if it is for a proposed re-regulation site, may go against the spirit of
the Mahakali Treaty signed in 1996 between the two countries. If Nepal has participated in
conducting the technical study, then, the government must come out in public with the
details. Purnagiri is suitable for commissioning a multipurpose project. It is therefore
necessary to take this survey work seriously. If India alone has conducted the survey over
the Mahakali river in the Kauwani-Purnagiri area, the government should oppose any further
technical survey work.
That India constructed the Laxmanpur afflux
barrage across the Rapti river in violation of international law has always been clear.
The afflux barrage affects over 35 VDCs on the Nepali side of the border especially during
the summer. Any attempt on the part of India to construct a similar structure at another
point near the Nepal-India border cannot be dismissed. Progress on the Pancheswor
multipurpose project has taken too slow a pace for its completion. Perhaps, India would
not have adopted such a snail pace, had the Pancheswor project provided immense benefits
to India. For India, Purnagiri is certainly a more preferred site for Pancheswor since it
not only reduces the cost for building a dam but also opens up avenues to divert water to
New Delhi. There are reasons to believe that India intentionally avoids Nepal’s
participation whenever it conducts a feasibility study for a dam near the Nepal-India
border.
Earlier, the ruling Nepali Congress led by Prime
Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had signed the Tanakpur Treaty at cost to the
country’s sovereignty. Fortunately, this was reversed when the Supreme Court gave a
verdict opposing the Treaty. This verdict led to the Mahakali Treaty signed in 1996
between Nepal and India for construction of the three billion dollar Pancheswor project.
The Pancheswor project, besides generating 6,000 megawatts of electricity, will irrigate
thousands of hectares of agriculture land in India. What the NC led government failed to
raise properly before signing the Mahakali Treaty was the question of downstream benefits.
The cost estimated for construction of a multipurpose dam at Purnagiri at that time was
less than one billion dollars. The fact is that Nepal should not allow India to conduct
survey work until and unless the Pancheshwor project DPR is complete. Nepali experts have
recommended the Rupaligad site for re-regulation under the Pancheshwor project as duly
agreed by both the countries at the time of the Mahakali Treaty. India cannot but stick to
the treaty.
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