New Delhi: The government on Monday said that it
had ascertained that construction activity on Brahmaputra
river inside Chinese territory would not adversely impact the
downstream areas of India.
This information was provided by Vincent Pala, Minister
of State in the Water Resources Ministry in reply to a
question in the Rajya Sabha.
The "government has ascertained that construction
activity on Brahmaputra river at Zangmu on the Chinese side is
a run of the river hydro-electric project, which does not
store water and will not adversely impact the downstream areas
in India," Pala said.
In reply to another question, Pala gave an indication
that the government could revamp the Brahmaputra board.
"Revamping of Brahmaputra Board is dependent on amendment
of Brahmaputra Board Act 1980 which is under active
consideration in this ministry," Pala said.
In response to a question on the interlinking of rivers
programme, Pala said that it was being "pursued in a
consultative manner with the consensus and cooperation of the
concerned states."
He also said that the Supreme Court had recently
dismissed a writ petition related to the interlinking of
rivers programme but his ministry had yet not got a copy of
it.
Pala said that a proposal of a Ganga-Kaveri link
conceptualised by National Water Ways Project was examined by
National Water Development Agency which found it was not
techno-economically viable.
PTI
