NEW DELHI, 10 Feb: BJP MP Dilip Saikia on Monday urged the government to hold bilateral talks with China to halt the construction of a massive dam on the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet which could put Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in danger.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Saikia said that the dam, described as the largest in the world, would put downstream regions such as Northeast India and Bangladesh in danger.
He said that the site of the dam is an earthquake prone region and is called the ‘ring of fire’.
The dam will put in danger the people and communities in the downstream region, including Arunachal and Assam.
Last year, China approved plans to build a dam over the Brahmaputra river, called the Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet, close to the Indian border.
As per the plan, the massive dam will be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal and then to Bangladesh.
The project, estimated to cost around USD 137 billion, is located in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur frequently.
Saikia said that the dam would be able to store huge amounts of water which could be used to cause floods or drought in the downstream region. (PTI)
