Assam NGO flays Delhi over Brahmaputra deal with Beijing

GUWAHATI: Assam-based NGO Jana Jagriti on Friday said India has failed to get any assurance from China regarding non-diversion of water of the river Brahmaputra during the recent visit of the Chinese premier to New Delhi. The NGO has produced a number of pictures depicting the Chinese government’s work at the Great Bend.

It is a place in the Tibetan plateau where the Yarlung Tsangpo — the Chinese name for the Brahmaputra — takes a sharp Uturn before entering India through Gogring village in Arunachal Pradesh. From the Great Bend, which about 4,000 metres from the sea level, the river travels about 70 km before entering India. Jana Jagriti President Ashokananda Singhal said the flood data agreement signed during the recent visit of Chinese premier Li Keqiang was nothing new but only a renewal of the existing pact between India and China, signed five years ago, which otherwise would have expired on June 4, 2013.

The deal signed only says that China will provide hydrological data of the Brahmaputra in flood season, twice a day from June to October at three hydro stations at Nugesha, Yangcun and Nuxia. Singhal added that New Delhi has failed to get any assurance from Beijing on India’s concerns regarding China’s largescale activities for diversion of Brahmaputra waters.

As it is well known, China has constructed and has been further constructing mega dams and hydro power projects on the Brahmaputra upstream and on its tributaries. China is diverting water from these rivers to North China under the western route of south to north water diversion project.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has congratulated the prime minister for the agreement signed with China to give an impression that it has achieved what it needed and wanted from China. Singhal said the chief minister must explain to the people of Assam as to how the state will benefit from this agreement.

China is constructing as many as 39 dams of which it has only announced four projects. “No assurance or commitment was given by the Chinese premier that it will desist from further or additional construction.”