A day after the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) confirmed that construction was on at the Zangmu site on the Chinese side of the Brahmaputra river, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Wednesday said that New Delhi has many a time raised the issue of construction of a dam by China on the Brahmaputra river but Beijing has consistently denied any such activity.

“What I want to say is that this matter has been taken up not just once but on a number of occasions with China and China has consistently denied that it is engaged in any such construction activity on the Brahmaputra,” Rao said in response to The Indian Express report in this regard.

The Indian Express had reported on Wednesday that NRSA, in its presentation to the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) formed to assess Chinese plans regarding possible diversion of the Brahmaputra’s water, had presented evidence of “houses, construction/excavation, and movement of trucks” in and around a 3-4 km range at the site. In fact, Express was the first to report last month about the construction of the dam.

Describing India-China relations as “complex”, Rao said the dialogue with that country will acquire “more substance and more relevance” in the years to come. She said the two countries would also be able to resolve all outstanding issues including the boundary matter through proper mechanism.

The issue had figured in the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summit in Thailand last month.

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