Chinese dam raises concern in Assam, Tarun Gogoi blames diplomatic failure

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday said China’s decision to operationalise a hydropower station on the Brahmaputra river is going to cause irreparable damage to Assam and other parts of the Brahmaputra basin, and blamed the central government for not taking up the matter with the northern neighbour.

“It is an utter failure at the highest diplomatic level to prevail upon China not to go ahead with the construction plan,” Gogoi said. “What purpose will it serve if the bonhomie and camaraderie generated by talks could not be translated into concrete actions vis a vis protecting India’s interests?”

According to reports, China operationalised the $1.5-billion Zam hydropower station, the largest in Tibet, on Tuesday.

Gogoi said Assam government has all along urged the Centre to intervene in China’s plans to build dams on Brahmaputra, and claimed that he had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the matter with the Chinese President during the former’s last visit to China.

“I had pleaded the prime minister to take up the issue with the President of China during his visit to that country. However, I have serious doubts whether he took up the matter at all,” Gogoi said.

“Prime Minister Modi perhaps did not take up the matter seriously which is of vital importance to the people of Assam and North East,” the Assam chief minister said. “If Prime Minister Modi’s much vaunted ‘Act East’ policy does not act when it matters the most to the people of North East then in whose interests the policy has been rechristened,” he said.