Photo retrieved from: www.jrcb.gov
“India and China make competing plans for the river’s precious waters, ignoring the functions it already performs – in sustaining rich ecosystems, flora and fauna, cultures and a wide range of livelihoods. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.
When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited India in mid-December last year, one of the issues on which his stand was keenly anticipated was that of the hydropower and dam construction on the Brahmaputra in Tibet/China. It has been long speculated that the Chinese are planning a large number of dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo (as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet). Among the many dams and diversions that China is supposed to have planned on the river, one gigantic project stands out. This is the 40,000 MW hydropower and diversion project at the Great Bend on the river just before it enters India.
The Tsangpo flows through 1625 kilometres in Tibet, and then enters India in Arunachal Pradesh, where it is known as the Siang. Further down, the Siang – after its confluence with the Dibang and Lohit – is known as the Brahmaputra. India is thus on the downstream side of all the developments being planned in China on the river.”
Read more: India Together
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