New Delhi
14 June 2011
Putting to rest speculation about China diverting the Brahmaputra waters away
from India, minister of external affairs SM Krishna has said that the dam at Zangmu in
the middle reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo (as the Brahmaputra is called in Tibet) is a
run of the river hydro-electric project, which does not store water and will not adversely
impact the downstream areas in India.
"We have ascertained [this] from our own sources," Mr Krishna said in response to
media queries.
The minister explained that the media reports about Chinese plans to construct a dam on
the Brahmaputra and possibly divert the river waters to northern China were not new but
based on previously known facts. "Therefore," he asserted, "I believe there is no cause
for immediate alarm."
He drew the attention of all concerned to the fact that a large proportion of the catchment
of the Brahmaputra was within Indian territory, before going on to suggest that "it is
important that the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam of India harness and utilise
the waters of the Brahmaputra. This is the really important issue."
Mr Krishna's remarks are consistent with New Delhi's position that there was no reason
to disbelieve China when it says that the run-of-the-river projects it is building on its side
of the Brahmaputra river would not lead to any large-scale diversion of the river waters
away from India.
"There is nothing to indicate to that effect [and] there is no reason to believe otherwise,"
a government source had said on Monday after a section of the media reported about the
dam and the possibility of diversion of the river waters.
A part of the problem is that there was no pact between India and China on the sharing of
river waters, unlike the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 which governs the sharing of six
common river waters by India and Pakistan.
Mr Krishna left for Kazakhstan Tuesday to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) summit.
No comments:
Post a Comment