Features | Environment | South Asia

India’s Worrying Plans for Dams on Transboundary Rivers Shared with Bangladesh 

At least seven hydroelectric projects on two transboundary river systems are in the pipeline in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya.

On Google maps, a deep green stretch about 100 kilometers long along the India-Bangladesh border, right north of the northeastern corner of Bangladesh, draws special attention. It is a densely forested hilly terrain on the Khasi hills in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. It includes the Cherrapunji-Mawsynram reserve forest, one of the wettest places on earth. 

From the right side of that deep green patch, the Myntdu river, which flows through the Jaintia hills in Meghalaya, enters the Bangladesh plains, where it is called Sari-Goyain. From the left, the Kynshi river enters Bangladesh and becomes known as Jadukata. Both flow into the Surma river, which is part of Bangladesh’s Meghna river system. Surma, too, is a transboundary river known as Barak in India. 

If Meghalayas’s hydropower development plan materializes as envisaged, there will be at least seven hydropower projects on the Myntdu and Kynshi. 

India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers. The waters of these transboundary rivers has been one of the major bones of contention between the two nations; the sharing of the Teesta’s waters being among the most contentious issues in their relationship, fomenting anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh in recent years. 

India is still not in a position to agree to Bangladesh’s demand for their share of the Teesta’s waters, as West Bengal – the Indian state through which the river flows into Bangladesh – is opposed to sharing their water.

In 2012, India commissioned a large hydroelectric project on the Myntdu River, known as Myntdu-Leshka Stage I. Bangladesh did not object to it. India argued that, being a run-of-the-river (RoR) project, it is devoid of any large reservoir storing water; it only diverts water through tunnels for generating electricity and releases the water back into the river downstream. 

However, when India announced its intention to build Stage II of the Myntdu-Leshka project in 2013, downstream from Stage I, Bangladesh raised objections. Since then, this has remained an issue in India-Bangladesh bilateral talks through the Joint River Commission. Around that time, Bangladesh also witnessed large-scale protests on India’s planned Tipaimukh dam on the Barak River, a project India ultimately sent to cold storage. 

Now, the Myntdu-Leshka Stage II (210 MW) project has gained momentum. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Myntdu-Leshka Stage II – a project the state government is “vigorously pursuing” – has been completed, Meghalaya Power Minister Metbah Lyngdoh said in February 2026. 

“The government will shortly finalize the financial linkage, including the option of Central Financial Assistance, to implement this project,” the minister was quoted as saying of Myntdu-Leshka Stage II.

The Selim (170MW) hydroelectric project upstream of Myntdu-Leshka Stage I (126MW) has also seen a revival. Its Detailed Project Report is currently being prepared.

Selim HEP is the uppermost project planned on Myntdu River. It is proposed to divert water through a 4.8-kilometer tunnel before releasing it back into the river. From there, it is expected to get a free-flowing stretch for about 3 kilometers before reaching the diversion point of the Stage I project. 

The currently operational Stage I project diverts parts of the Myntdu river water through a 3-kilometer head race tunnel before releasing it back into the river. Now, about 3 kilometers downstream, the water is proposed to be diverted again for the Stage II project through a 6 kilometer tunnel before releasing it back into the river. 

That place, downstream of the village Kharakhana, would be roughly 10 kilometers north of where the river enters Bangladesh. 

At present, Meghalaya has a cumulative capacity of 378.2MW from 10 hydro projects. The last large hydro project in the state was commissioned in 2017. However, since drafting its new power policy in 2024, there has been a renewed push for additional hydro power generation.

A cascade of three dams on any river within a short distance, including RoR projects, can have multiple implications regarding flow amount, pattern, and catchment degradation. 

RoR hydropower projects store water during the day to release in the evening for meeting peak demand, points out river scientist Kalyan Rudra. This interrupts the normal rhythm of the river. In addition, the dams trap sediment. The water that comes out of the dam is free from sediments and is more prone to cause erosion downstream. Such projects also impact biodiversity. 

“Cascading RoR hydel projects can modify hill slopes and trigger landslides,” Rudra told The Diplomat.   

A 2025 Meghalaya power department report notes that Myntdu-Leshka Stage I being an RoR project has very limited storage capacity. It also has a very high discharge of about 10,440 cumecs during high rainfall. During high flood, the flood water fills up the reservoir at a high rate and could overtop the dam within minutes, for which 24-7 monitoring is required, the report says.

The Kynshi River may also see cascading hydro projects. On it, the 270 MW Kynshi Stage I and the 278MW Kynshi stage II projects are being revived. In June 2025, the state government approved a fresh Memorandum of Understanding to resume work on the Stage I project. Its DPR is yet to be completed. 

Umngi HEP (2×31 MW), a storage-type project, and Nongkohlait HEP (2X60 MW), an RoR project, have been planned on the river Umngi, a tributary of the Kynshi. These projects are in the survey and investigation stage, as per budgetary allocations last year. Mawblei HEP (140MW) in the Khasi hills has been planned on the river Wahblei, another of Kynshi’s tributaries. It, too, is in the survey and investigation stage, according to budgetary allocation reports. 

RoR projects are considered less disruptive for riverine flow because they do not store water in large reservoirs. However, in a cascade, as soon as the water is returned to the river from one powerhouse, it is often diverted again for the next project. This leaves long stretches of the original riverbed with only a fraction of its natural flow. 

In this case, downstream areas include parts of Bangladesh, the lower riparian country. The Myntdu enters Bangladesh through the Jaintiapur Upazila in the Sylhet District. The Kynshi enters Bangladesh through the Tahirpur Upazila of Sunamganj District. 

In Meghalaya, some local residents raised concerns during public hearings for the Myntdu-Leshka Stage II project, conducted as per the law’s requirement. 

Phermon Suchen, president of Borghat-Jaliakhola Aquatic Life Welfare Association, expressed concerns that the project will rob the river of whatever fish is found. As mining-related pollution has increased river water acidity, the fish presence had already dwindled. The river diversions for the project will take away whatever migratory fish, especially Hilsa, are still available during the summer and monsoon, Suchen was quoted as saying in a government report.  

Firstborn Pamblang, the headman of Pasadwar village, had also registered concerns with the government. He told The Diplomat that the Stage I project has already caused damage to villagers due to the strong currents from its release of water, especially in monsoon. They fear the new project will also affect agricultural activities, especially betel nut farming.

Deimonmi Bareh from Kharkhana pointed out that Stage I caused damages to the agricultural lands and houses during monsoon. They fear that the Stage II project will double the damage. They wanted the planned power house shifted away from their village.

Villagers from Borghat told the government that oil and cement spilled into the river during the construction of the Stage I project, turning the water unusable. The river also dried out after it was dammed, they alleged. The dam impacted the local ferry service. Strong currents from the release of the dam water washes away sand banks and gravel bars, which locals use. 

Karly Mynthlu, the headman of Demlakang village, pointed out that the hilly areas are already drought-prone, while the riverbanks remain fertile and suitable for cultivation. The local people’s livelihood might be impacted if the project now leads to the drying of the river. Eshrom Mynthlu from Lakadong fears that people living in the villages on the banks will lose their livelihood from sand mining and fishing. 

The implementing agency downplayed all these concerns. It said that since the river water is acidic, there are few fish, except for during summer, implying that locals losing their livelihood is not a big issue. They insisted that the dams do not cause floods but are useful in controlling them.  

They assured that sufficient water will be released for locals’ needs and additional water may be released on request for festive occasions. Besides, silt will be flushed out periodically from the dam to help sand mining. 

The authorities argued that the downstream areas of the river are mostly of pondage formation. Therefore, the release of necessary water from the dam and the presence of river’s tributaries downstream of the dam will suffice for the locals’ requirements. 

However, the locals’ fears might not be unfounded. A cascade of RoR projects can increase the region’s disaster vulnerability potential from erosion, landslide, earthquake and flash floods, said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network of Dams, Rivers and People. They have studied the impacts of several cascading RoR projects in the north Indian Himalayas. 

“For downstream areas, a series of RoR projects can impact not only the amount of flow but also its pattern, particularly in non monsoon months,” Thakkar said. Major catchment degradation, too, can alter the flow pattern. Past experiences show aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity gets badly impacted. 

According to Thakkar, the cumulative impact of multiple projects is much higher than the sum of one or two additional projects. This is why carrying capacity study and cumulative impact assessments are necessary. The nature and extent of project-affected changes also depend on the flow pattern of the river and the rainfall pattern of the region.  

Notably, the climatic pattern of Meghalaya and northern Bangladesh region have gone through significant shifts. A gradual drying of the region comes with a four-fold increase in single-day excess rain events, the latter often a cause of flash floods. 

According to independent Bangladeshi anthropological researcher Eshita Dastider, unregulated stone and coal mining and deforestation in Meghalaya have already increased the frequency of landslides in the state. She has worked on the tribal people living in Bangladesh, especially in the Bangladesh plains south of the Khasi hills in Meghalaya.

During heavy rainfall, flash floods carry sand and debris downstream. This impacts the bordering regions in Bangladesh plains, where both water and debris cause damage to farmlands and homes, she pointed out. 

“A cascade of dams on any of these transboundary rivers will surely impact their flow in Bangladesh. However, the extent of the impact can only be assessed when information on the details of the projects come in the public domain,” she said.

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On Google maps, a deep green stretch about 100 kilometers long along the India-Bangladesh border, right north of the northeastern corner of Bangladesh, draws special attention. It is a densely forested hilly terrain on the Khasi hills in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. It includes the Cherrapunji-Mawsynram reserve forest, one of the wettest places on earth. 

From the right side of that deep green patch, the Myntdu river, which flows through the Jaintia hills in Meghalaya, enters the Bangladesh plains, where it is called Sari-Goyain. From the left, the Kynshi river enters Bangladesh and becomes known as Jadukata. Both flow into the Surma river, which is part of Bangladesh’s Meghna river system. Surma, too, is a transboundary river known as Barak in India. 

If Meghalayas’s hydropower development plan materializes as envisaged, there will be at least seven hydropower projects on the Myntdu and Kynshi. 

India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers. The waters of these transboundary rivers has been one of the major bones of contention between the two nations; the sharing of the Teesta’s waters being among the most contentious issues in their relationship, fomenting anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh in recent years. 

India is still not in a position to agree to Bangladesh’s demand for their share of the Teesta’s waters, as West Bengal – the Indian state through which the river flows into Bangladesh – is opposed to sharing their water.

In 2012, India commissioned a large hydroelectric project on the Myntdu River, known as Myntdu-Leshka Stage I. Bangladesh did not object to it. India argued that, being a run-of-the-river (RoR) project, it is devoid of any large reservoir storing water; it only diverts water through tunnels for generating electricity and releases the water back into the river downstream. 

However, when India announced its intention to build Stage II of the Myntdu-Leshka project in 2013, downstream from Stage I, Bangladesh raised objections. Since then, this has remained an issue in India-Bangladesh bilateral talks through the Joint River Commission. Around that time, Bangladesh also witnessed large-scale protests on India’s planned Tipaimukh dam on the Barak River, a project India ultimately sent to cold storage. 

Now, the Myntdu-Leshka Stage II (210 MW) project has gained momentum. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Myntdu-Leshka Stage II – a project the state government is “vigorously pursuing” – has been completed, Meghalaya Power Minister Metbah Lyngdoh said in February 2026. 

“The government will shortly finalize the financial linkage, including the option of Central Financial Assistance, to implement this project,” the minister was quoted as saying of Myntdu-Leshka Stage II.

The Selim (170MW) hydroelectric project upstream of Myntdu-Leshka Stage I (126MW) has also seen a revival. Its Detailed Project Report is currently being prepared.

Selim HEP is the uppermost project planned on Myntdu River. It is proposed to divert water through a 4.8-kilometer tunnel before releasing it back into the river. From there, it is expected to get a free-flowing stretch for about 3 kilometers before reaching the diversion point of the Stage I project. 

The currently operational Stage I project diverts parts of the Myntdu river water through a 3-kilometer head race tunnel before releasing it back into the river. Now, about 3 kilometers downstream, the water is proposed to be diverted again for the Stage II project through a 6 kilometer tunnel before releasing it back into the river. 

That place, downstream of the village Kharakhana, would be roughly 10 kilometers north of where the river enters Bangladesh. 

At present, Meghalaya has a cumulative capacity of 378.2MW from 10 hydro projects. The last large hydro project in the state was commissioned in 2017. However, since drafting its new power policy in 2024, there has been a renewed push for additional hydro power generation.

A cascade of three dams on any river within a short distance, including RoR projects, can have multiple implications regarding flow amount, pattern, and catchment degradation. 

RoR hydropower projects store water during the day to release in the evening for meeting peak demand, points out river scientist Kalyan Rudra. This interrupts the normal rhythm of the river. In addition, the dams trap sediment. The water that comes out of the dam is free from sediments and is more prone to cause erosion downstream. Such projects also impact biodiversity. 

“Cascading RoR hydel projects can modify hill slopes and trigger landslides,” Rudra told The Diplomat.   

A 2025 Meghalaya power department report notes that Myntdu-Leshka Stage I being an RoR project has very limited storage capacity. It also has a very high discharge of about 10,440 cumecs during high rainfall. During high flood, the flood water fills up the reservoir at a high rate and could overtop the dam within minutes, for which 24-7 monitoring is required, the report says.

The Kynshi River may also see cascading hydro projects. On it, the 270 MW Kynshi Stage I and the 278MW Kynshi stage II projects are being revived. In June 2025, the state government approved a fresh Memorandum of Understanding to resume work on the Stage I project. Its DPR is yet to be completed. 

Umngi HEP (2×31 MW), a storage-type project, and Nongkohlait HEP (2X60 MW), an RoR project, have been planned on the river Umngi, a tributary of the Kynshi. These projects are in the survey and investigation stage, as per budgetary allocations last year. Mawblei HEP (140MW) in the Khasi hills has been planned on the river Wahblei, another of Kynshi’s tributaries. It, too, is in the survey and investigation stage, according to budgetary allocation reports. 

RoR projects are considered less disruptive for riverine flow because they do not store water in large reservoirs. However, in a cascade, as soon as the water is returned to the river from one powerhouse, it is often diverted again for the next project. This leaves long stretches of the original riverbed with only a fraction of its natural flow. 

In this case, downstream areas include parts of Bangladesh, the lower riparian country. The Myntdu enters Bangladesh through the Jaintiapur Upazila in the Sylhet District. The Kynshi enters Bangladesh through the Tahirpur Upazila of Sunamganj District. 

In Meghalaya, some local residents raised concerns during public hearings for the Myntdu-Leshka Stage II project, conducted as per the law’s requirement. 

Phermon Suchen, president of Borghat-Jaliakhola Aquatic Life Welfare Association, expressed concerns that the project will rob the river of whatever fish is found. As mining-related pollution has increased river water acidity, the fish presence had already dwindled. The river diversions for the project will take away whatever migratory fish, especially Hilsa, are still available during the summer and monsoon, Suchen was quoted as saying in a government report.  

Firstborn Pamblang, the headman of Pasadwar village, had also registered concerns with the government. He told The Diplomat that the Stage I project has already caused damage to villagers due to the strong currents from its release of water, especially in monsoon. They fear the new project will also affect agricultural activities, especially betel nut farming.

Deimonmi Bareh from Kharkhana pointed out that Stage I caused damages to the agricultural lands and houses during monsoon. They fear that the Stage II project will double the damage. They wanted the planned power house shifted away from their village.

Villagers from Borghat told the government that oil and cement spilled into the river during the construction of the Stage I project, turning the water unusable. The river also dried out after it was dammed, they alleged. The dam impacted the local ferry service. Strong currents from the release of the dam water washes away sand banks and gravel bars, which locals use. 

Karly Mynthlu, the headman of Demlakang village, pointed out that the hilly areas are already drought-prone, while the riverbanks remain fertile and suitable for cultivation. The local people’s livelihood might be impacted if the project now leads to the drying of the river. Eshrom Mynthlu from Lakadong fears that people living in the villages on the banks will lose their livelihood from sand mining and fishing. 

The implementing agency downplayed all these concerns. It said that since the river water is acidic, there are few fish, except for during summer, implying that locals losing their livelihood is not a big issue. They insisted that the dams do not cause floods but are useful in controlling them.  

They assured that sufficient water will be released for locals’ needs and additional water may be released on request for festive occasions. Besides, silt will be flushed out periodically from the dam to help sand mining. 

The authorities argued that the downstream areas of the river are mostly of pondage formation. Therefore, the release of necessary water from the dam and the presence of river’s tributaries downstream of the dam will suffice for the locals’ requirements. 

However, the locals’ fears might not be unfounded. A cascade of RoR projects can increase the region’s disaster vulnerability potential from erosion, landslide, earthquake and flash floods, said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network of Dams, Rivers and People. They have studied the impacts of several cascading RoR projects in the north Indian Himalayas. 

“For downstream areas, a series of RoR projects can impact not only the amount of flow but also its pattern, particularly in non monsoon months,” Thakkar said. Major catchment degradation, too, can alter the flow pattern. Past experiences show aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity gets badly impacted. 

According to Thakkar, the cumulative impact of multiple projects is much higher than the sum of one or two additional projects. This is why carrying capacity study and cumulative impact assessments are necessary. The nature and extent of project-affected changes also depend on the flow pattern of the river and the rainfall pattern of the region.  

Notably, the climatic pattern of Meghalaya and northern Bangladesh region have gone through significant shifts. A gradual drying of the region comes with a four-fold increase in single-day excess rain events, the latter often a cause of flash floods. 

According to independent Bangladeshi anthropological researcher Eshita Dastider, unregulated stone and coal mining and deforestation in Meghalaya have already increased the frequency of landslides in the state. She has worked on the tribal people living in Bangladesh, especially in the Bangladesh plains south of the Khasi hills in Meghalaya.

During heavy rainfall, flash floods carry sand and debris downstream. This impacts the bordering regions in Bangladesh plains, where both water and debris cause damage to farmlands and homes, she pointed out. 

“A cascade of dams on any of these transboundary rivers will surely impact their flow in Bangladesh. However, the extent of the impact can only be assessed when information on the details of the projects come in the public domain,” she said.

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, the author of two non-fiction books on India’s ultra-Left and the Hindu right, writes and comments on India’s politics, environment, human rights and culture.

India-Bangladesh relations

India-Bangladesh transboundary rivers

Myntdu-Leshka Stage I

Myntdu-Leshka Stage II

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