DHAKA, March 10: The ?National Committee for Resisting India?s River Aggression? on Wednesday started marching towards Sylhet from Dhaka to protest against India?s decision to construct a dam on the river Barak, the source of three rivers in Bangladesh ?- Surma, Kushiara and Meghna.

Led by the committee?s convener, Mohiuddin Khan, the marchers are scheduled to hold protests at Narsingdi, Bhairab, Brahmanbaria, Shayestaganj and Sylhet.

The committee leaders, at a pre-march rally in Dhaka, said once the dam was constructed it would lay waste a vast tract of arable land in the Surma-Kushiara-Meghna basin.

?Since the water will be transferred upstream, the three downstream rivers will be choked and turned into arid stretches and patches of sands. The biodiversity of the region will be endangered,? Mohiuddin Khan said.

The Tapaimukh dam will be built on the river Barak in

the northeastern Indian state

of Manipur, 100 kilometres from the border with Bangladesh.

The Indian government first planned to build the dam to implement one of its multi-purpose projects that also included a 1,500 megawatt hydroelectric power plant. This was planned as early as 1955.

The construction, however, could not start in the face of protests by the state government of Manipur and the indigenous people of Manipur and Mizoram.