Zakir Kibria <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], Shahidul Alam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Roy Laifungbam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Water and Energy Users' Federation-Nepal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Himanshu SANDRAP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Medha Patkar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: Zakir Kibria <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:05:45 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [riverlink] [PraxisNews] Chinese Brahmaputra card upsets India�s river-linking bid
Chinese Brahmaputra card upsets India�s river-linking bid
ASJADUL KIBRIA, back from ShillongNew Age, November 10, 2003Dhaka, BangladeshA reported Chinese plan to divert the Brahmaputra for hydroelectricity generation and irrigation has seemingly become a major worry for New Delhi just as India looks set to go ahead with a $112-billion river-linking project, ignoring the concern of co-riparian countries.
A strong debate is now raging across India that China has long been planning to divert the waters of the Tsangpo, local name for Brahmaputra, to generate hydro-electricity and irrigate the Gobi desert.
The state government of Assam requested the central government a few days back to take the river-diversion plan �seriously�, as it could spell a �nightmare� for India�s north-east, including the hilly state of Meghalaya.
The union ministry of water resources on November 7 had written to the external affairs ministry to update the latest �factual position�, according to a November 8 report of an Indian daily. The ministry would forward the �request for facts� to the Indian embassy in Beijing, reported the Telegraph, a Kolkata-based English-language daily.
Indian State Minister for Water Resources Bijoya Chakraborty, however, dismissed reports that China was planning to alter the course of the river. The Assam government has also reported to the central government of what it called as �China�s attempts to divert the Brahmaputra that had been surfacing periodically for over a decade now�.
Meanwhile, media speculations have it that China is contemplating a big blast by using nuclear power to build a tunnel through the Himalayas to make room for what is termed as the world�s largest hydroelectric plant.
Originating in Manas Sarovar Lake in Mount Koilash of the Himalayan range, the Brahmaputra traverses 2,900 kilometres through China, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh, covering an area of over 606,000 square kilometres along its basin.
According to the reported Chinese plan, a huge storage dam would be set up on the Yarlung Tsangpo. With this dam, the diverted water would flow to north-western China.
The plan, if on the cards, would affect not only India, but also Bangladesh and Tibet, the Telegraph cautioned.
However, the Telegraph report did not give any reference to India�s river-linking project involving 37 rivers, mostly international rivers of which Bangladesh is a co-riparian country downstream.
Dhaka has already conveyed its protest against such a scheme during the recent Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission meeting held in New Delhi. Pakistan too lodged its protest, posing even a nuclear threat in case of diversion of the waters of the Indus.
Asked about the Indian and the Chinese plans, a top official in Dhaka said neither of the projects are viable �� economically and environmentally.
�These betray an utter chauvinism of the upper riparian countries towards the downstream countries. Such projects could only cause destruction to all.�
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