Experts, academics and rights activists from the Indian states of Assam and Manipur joined their Bangladeshi counterparts in expressing fears on drying up of rivers at a two-day 'International Tipaimukh Dam Conference' (ITDC-2005) that began in Dhaka on Friday. The water flow to Bangladesh's major river system -- the Meghna and its tributaries - - might be reduced by around one third resulting in massive intrusion of saline water from the Bay of Bengal with its devastating effects on the country's farm productivity, fish population and ecology when the biggest ever Indian dam is built at Tipaimukh at the confluence of the Barak river. It might cause drying up of the Surma and Kushiara rivers in Bangladesh during the lean period.
