Significant impact,will check with China on dam: New Delhi

The MEA spokesperson added: “During these meetings,the Indian side has taken up with the Chinese side reports about the construction of a large scale dam or diversion project in the Brahmaputra. The Indian side has conveyed that such a project may have significant impact on the socio-economic condition of people living downstream. The Indian side has also expressed the hope that the Chinese side will not undertake such a large scale project or divert the waters of the Brahmaputra.”

“It (the Chinese plan to build dams) will be a severe blow to hydroelectric potential in the Arunachal Pradesh region of the country where potential was estimated over 20,000 MW for the long proposed Dihang dam alone,” said Nayan Sharma,a senior water resource expert at IIT Roorkee,who has researched extensively on the Brahmaputra Basin.

Experts say that going by the description of the proposed Chinese dam on its side of the Brahmaputra,even though the proposed power generation appears to be low,the size of the dam appears to be “designed for storing water which can be diverted to meet its water demand.”

During the Expert Level Meeting last year,ahead of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to China,Beijing refused to accept New Delhi’s request to increase the time period for sharing hydrological data from the present June 1-October 15 period to May 15-October 15 every year. It also refused to commit to India’s requests to establish two more hydrological stations for the Brahmaputra River for flood monitoring downstream in India.