Remote sensing data confirm Chinese move Spl Correspondent NEW DELHI, Nov 4 – Despite mounting evide-nce of China undertaking construction of dams, purportedly to divert the Brahmaputra river, India today reiterated its stand that Beijing is ‘cooperating’. Reacting to reports about the construction of a dam by China, Union Minister of State for Defence MM Palam Raju told newsmen that India is talking to China about sharing all kinds of hydrological data including activities on the rivers. “They have cooperated to a certain extent,” he claimed.
The Minister’s reaction comes in the wake of fresh evidence, in the form of remote sensing data confirming reports of China building a dam on the Brahmaputra river. The National Remote Sensing Agency reportedly confirmed massive construction activities on the Chinese side before the Committee of Secretaries, constituted to monitor China’s bid to divert the Brahmaputra river.
According to reports, following the discovery by the Agency, the CoS, headed by Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrashekhar recommended to the Ministry of External Affairs to directly take up the issue at the political level with Beijing.
The meeting of the CoS also reportedly recommen-ded expediting construction of hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh following fresh evidence of construction activities on the Brahmaputra river, also called Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet.
Last month, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had told newsmen in Hua Hin, Thailand that he had taken up the issue of cross-border river with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India Summit. The two leaders had agreed that the matter would be taken up at the expert-level committee set up for the purpose.
However, New Delhi’s reaction is curious given that it may have been aware of China’s plan to undertake dam construction on the Brahmaputra river because a series of reports appeared in China’s official media. On January 19, the Government-owned People’s Daily reported the plan to build a hydro-power station.
China, the world’s second biggest energy consumer, may build hydro-power plants on Tibet’s Yarlung Tsangpo, the Daily reported.
An initial study shows that the river can accommodate hydro-power stations with a total capacity of 70 gigawatts, or about 10 per cent of the nation’s overall generating capacity, vice-president of State Grid Corp of China, Shu Yinbiao, was quoted as saying.
The river, with an average elevation of about 4,000 metres, passes through one of China’s poorest regions.
Yarlung Tsangpo flows eastward across south Tibet before breaching the Himalayas as it bends round the 7,782-metre-high Namcha Barwa.
China conducted an assessment of water resources on Yarlung Tsangpo, and the study shows a section of 150 km can accommodate 70 gigawatts of hydro-power capacity, Shu said.
The hydro-power stations envisages to transmit electricity to east and central China via new ultra-high voltage lines spanning at least 3,000 km, Shu was quoted in the news report.
