Brahmaputra jitters from China project
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT New Delhi, March 30: Hints have emerged from
China that it may be gearing for a project on the Brahmaputra that threatens
drought in Indias Northeast, environment experts and Indian officials claim.
Delhi, however, has decided to ignore the developments and instead
volunteered to pay Beijing for help in avoiding floods in the region,
government sources here said.
China, despite official disclaimers, has long been suspected of planning to
divert the waters of the Brahmaputra which originates in southwest Tibet as
the Yarlung Zangbo or Tsangpo to its thirsty northwest.
Experts have warned that such a project could trigger an ecological disaster
in Indias Northeast and Bangladesh.
In recent weeks, a flood of technical articles has appeared in China backing
the diversion plan, indicating Beijing is setting the stage for the project,
Indian officials said. They said the Chinese government had also built an
airstrip on the rivers banks close to a potential diversion point where a dam
could come up.
Himanshu Thakkar of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, an NGO, said
the Chinese project could divert 200 billion cubic metres of water annually to
the Yellow River, leaving Assam dry during the lean season.
However, the Union water resources ministry secretary, Umesh Narayan Panjiar,
said: There are no concrete developments. We are watching.
Other government sources said from all indications, Del-hi had no plans to
respond till detailed project reports came out in China. Then it could be too
late, an official said.
The Centre has not carried out any study on the possible magnitude of the
impact of a Chinese diversion project, or worked out a contingency plan for
Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, the states that would be hit the worst.
Delhi, however, is happy that Beijing has agreed to add two more monitoring
stations to its array of three on the Tsangpo/Brahmaputra to forewarn against
floods. India has decided to fund the maintenance of the two new stations.
China shares weather forecast data from its three existing stations with India.
They have not asked for money, but at least one of the stations is in a very
remote area, so we dont mind paying for maintenance. Its a goodwill gesture,
an official said.
Some like the Asom Gana Parishad MP from Assams Lakhimpur, Arun Sarma, feel
that the government knows something about the Chinese plans but has been
covering it up. He had asked water resources minister Saifuddin Soz for a
clarification but the answer did not satisfy him.
In his reply on December 17, 2007, Soz had quoted a Chinese spokesperson
telling a PTI correspondent that Beijing had no plans to divert the
Brahmaputras waters.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080331/jsp/frontpage/story_9076974.jsp
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