"No longer can we claim that we will complete DPR within the given deadline," Surendra Bajracharya, who leads Nepali experts in the committee, told myrepublica.com. "There is now no point of concealing the truth." The committee has already spent over five years in the field. [break]
According to Bajracharya, the committee has recently started assessing the progress made so far, so as to ask for another deadline extension. "Once we are done with our internal assessment, we will have a clear idea on actually how much work is to be completed," Bajracharya said. "We, therefore, will be able to ask for a certain period of extension."
The committee, which started its task on August 17, 2004, was initially given 30 months to prepare the report. As it´s first deadline expired on February 13, 2007, it sought tenure extension citing obstructions from the Maoists.
A meeting of the Indo-Nepal Joint Group of Experts (JGE) had extended the deadline till December, 2009. However, the committee again failed to submit its report citing strikes from different political outfits. The committee is likely to ask for a third extension, this time around citing obstructions from the Maoist-affiliated Kirat Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (KRMM).
"We have not been allowed to do anything since last September," a JTC official said. "We can do nothing unless the government facilitates to clear the hurdles," he said.
Besides the Morcha, a struggle committee formed by different local groups, which are likely to be displaced by the construction of the dam, too, are up in the arms against the project.
The future of the controversial project, considered to be a troubleshooter for people of Bihar affected by frequent Koshi floods and inundation, has thus been in limbo. KRMM has vowed not to relent until ´India gets ready for a fresh relationship with Nepal´.
"How can the governments of Nepal and India unilaterally prepare DPR without our prior consent," Padam Rai, chairman of KRMM, told myrepublica.com. "We will not remain just as onlookers when a ghost is dancing in our own courtyard," Rai, who is also a CA member, said.
Similarly, locals have objected to the project, citing the provisions of ILO Convention 169, which advocates participation of local people in all projects.
The preparation of DPR is vital for determining the height, length and breadth of the dam. In 1981, the Indian government had published its report based on an old survey carried out between 1946 and 1952, which suggested 269-meter high dam. The Indian report has been criticized by Nepali experts.
The High Dam, according to independent studies conducted by Nepali experts, may inundate dozens of villages in Sunsari, Dhankuta, Bhojpur and Udayapur districts and displace hundreds of indigenous people. The construction of High Dam, as experts say, may prove costly than its power and irrigation benefits.
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