Centre failed to stop China dam project, Gogoi says

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Times of India
October 15, 2015

GUWAHATI: A day after China operationalized its biggest hydropower project on the Brahmaputra in Tibet Autonomous Region, chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday blamed the Centre for ‘failing to prevail upon Beijing to stop the project.

Earlier, too, the chief minister had repeatedly asked New Delhi to raise with China the topic of its Brahmaputra dam projects having an adverse impact on the northeast.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China this year, he had requested him to take up the matter with the Chinese government, the chief minister said.

Gogoi added that the latest development showed that the Prime Minister had not taken the matter, of vital importance to the people of Assam, seriously. “It’s a failure, at the highest diplomatic level, to prevail upon China not to go ahead with the construction plan. What purpose will it serve if the bonhomie and camaraderie generated by talks cannot be translated into concrete action vis-a-vis protecting India’s interests?” Gogoi asked in a statement.

Gogoi added that China operationalizing its hydropower station on the Brahmaputra would cause irreparable damage to Assam and other parts of the Brahmaputra basin.

The 510-MW Zangmu hydroelectric project was operationalized at a time when anti-dam groups in the northeast expressed concern over China’s construction activities along the higher reaches of the Brahmaputra.

Earlier this year, the Centre had said, apart from Zangmu, the Chinese government had planned three more hydropower projects on the Brahmaputra in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Brahmaputra in Tibet is known as Yarlung Tsangpo. As the four projects were run-of-the-river (RoR) projects, significant change in the river water flow in the northeast was not expected, the Centre had added.

Anti-dam groups here, however, argued that the northeast, being the lower riparian state, would face cumulative impact and New Delhi should have engaged more with China on water and dam safety

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) alleged that the Centre had not been serious about the cumulative impact on the northeast due to dam construction on the Chinese side. “Our demand is that India should ask China to declare the Brahmaputra from Tibet to Bangladesh, including the northeast, a neutral river zone because of ecological and cultural sensitivity,” KMSS president Akhil Gogoi said.

He threatened to stage a demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi to stop dam construction in Tibet region.

Last year, Northeast Dialogue Forum (NDF), a conglomeration of over 20 human rights and anti-dam organizations of the region, had asked both New Delhi and Beijing to establish an independent international commission on water for better management of transboundary rivers and recognize the rights of indigenous people over water. It said the two sides should develop a management mechanism to share water among China’s Tibet, India’s Northeast and Bangladesh by respecting the right of the indigenous people.