Chinese disastrous plans

Chinese disaster in the making



The damming of Brahmaputra by China is bound to cause untold misery and devastation. New Delhi should engage Beijing in serious discussions on trans-boundary rivers

According to media reports, the Brahmaputra river in China (known as Yarlung Tsangpo), is presently witnessing a damming spree with a major hydro-electric project under construction at Zangmu to be followed by five more dams across the river. Though the Chinese have denied having any such plans, and the Indian Government pleads lack of information thereon, data received from satellite imageries do indicate some activities in the reported area.

China has every right to build dams in their part of the Brahmaputhra and we cannot dispute their right to do so. But what we have to worry is about the impact of these dams downstream in Indian territory. With weak international laws and having no agreements on the river, India has presently no leverage with China to protect our interests.

One anticipated impact is the likely reduction in flow downstream, if China diverts the lean flows of the river outside the basin for power generation or to meet the water needs of its arid north-east. Another impact is the possible flooding downstream, from release of heavy flood flows during monsoons.

According to experts on China, the projects presently proposed by it need not be viewed with alarm since these do not cause potentially disastrous effects in the channel discharge. Further, Chinese authorities can ill-afford to trigger protests from locals due to the diversions causing a dry riverbed downstream. Dam experts point out that construction of mega-projects is not feasible, the terrain being prone to severe earthquakes.

Notwithstanding these optimistic observations, we should remain pragmatic about the signs emanating from across the border. The construction of the highway linking Bome to Medok city in the Nyingtri Prefecture to facilitate movement of material and heavy machinery, opening of an airport at high altitude in the Prefecture for providing easy access to the Tsangpo gorge, etc, are indicative of the Chinese plans.

The past experience of co-basin states like Thailand in the Mekong basin due to the dams constructed in the Chinese territory would be relevant here. These states had protested to the Mekong River Commission against the indiscriminate upstream reservoir operations which affected their agriculture, fisheries and tourism activities. The worst occurred in 2002, when China released flood flows from its reservoirs, inundating vast stretches of their territories. China did not bother about their protests, nor the objections raised by MRC stating that it is not a member of the commission.

India too had suffered heavy losses due to unprecedented floods from Tibetan rivers in the recent past.

The argument that it is not possible to construct huge diversion structures in this terrain has already been disproved by China’s Gigantic Water Diversion project for transferring 1.8 billion cubic metres of water to Dehuofang reservoir across the Hun river, through a 85 km-long tunnel driven in the mountainous north-east having similar problems.

The expectation that our neighbour would inform us about their plans on the river, is also unfounded. When they constructed the Senge-Ali hydro-project on the Indus (Western Tibet), Pakistan was not knowledgeable about it. Also, as per reports, the Chinese authorities did not bother about the locals protesting about a dry river downstream.

India, therefore, has to take immediate actions to engage China in serious discussions on the trans-boundary rivers since there are no agreements at present between the two in this regard, except for a joint declaration made in 2006 for sharing hydrological data. This alone is not adequate to address our concerns.

Being an upper riparian, China may not be keen to enter into any agreement with us on water sharing issues, but there is a possibility since it is interested in new relationships on environmental issues. This change is evident as revealed in the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate conference, as it has sought India’s help in co-ordinating efforts with developing countries. Hence time is ripe for India to pursue with China to institutionalise a joint committee for environmental impacts on trans-boundary rivers, in which our concerns could be discussed. This golden opportunity should not be lost.

In the meanwhile, we should not remain as mute spectators watching helplessly our neighbour’s plans. We have to protect our interests. We have to construct storage structures in the river at any cost giving top priority, so as to regulate the wide water level fluctuations and floods caused by reservoir operations upstream. We should not allow another Mekong to repeat here due to China’s dams upstream.

(The Pioneer,dated,11th February,2010)


::



.