Guwahati: China has undertaken a massive
project for diverting the river Brahmaputra there to its arid
northern areas by constructing water storages, canals, dams
and pumping stations, a senior BJP leader said on Wednesday.
Construction of 11 water storages, two canals,
five dams and pumping stations before the Great Band in
southern China where the Brahmaputra enters India envisaged to
divert the river`s waters, BJP Assam unit leader Ashokanand
Singhal told the media here.
Stating that the Brahmaputra used to provide 78.1
billion cubic metre of water during the monsoons in India and
56.12 bcm on non-monsoon days, he claimed that the river flow
has been reduced by 30 per cent during the monsoons and
provided only 60 per cent the rest of the year.
He also claimed that China has constructed two
reservoirs of 42 million cubic metre and 31 cu m at the Great
Band area, 60 to 70 km from Gogring village in Arunachal
Pradesh.
Contrary to China`s claimed that they were the result
of landslides, the reservoirs were man-made for power
projects, Singhal said on the basis of Google Maps and other
sources.
The Chinese government was also building a five star
hotel and a cantonment for an Army division at Nyingehi, 16 km
away from Band to which road and rail link has been
constructed, he said.
"China is planning to bring water to the Tibet plateau
by pumping and connecting tunnels to the north-west provinces
through different sources. The area includes two autonomous
regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and three provinces of
Qiunghai, Gansu and Shaanxi," Singhal said.
He said that the Chinese were also planning to block
the waters of rivers Indus and Sutlej. Dams and water storages
have been built on the Indus and Sindhu river at Jiele near
Ngari Gar county and at Sanbo towards Soutg, besides the
Tashigongon power project.
A barrage and a bridge were under construction on
Sutlej river in China`s Zhanda county, Singhal said.
Appealing to all the NE states to pressurise the
Centre to raise India`s concern in the international fora, the
BJP leader wanted prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh who
represents the region in Parliament to take up the issue with
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao during his upcoming visit to India.
PTI
