ITANAGAR, 19 Jul: Expressing concern over the under-construction mega dam by China near Arunachal Pradesh, BJP MLA Ninong Ering on Friday urged the government to take up the issue with the Centre.
China is building a 60,000 megawatt dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Medog, near the international border.
Tsangpo is known as Siang in Arunachal and Brahmaputra in Assam. The main channel of this river is the Jamuna, which flows through Bangladesh before joining the Bay of Bengal.
Participating in the motion of thanks to the governor’s address in the Assembly, Ering, a former union minister, said, “We cannot trust our neighbour. You never know what they can do. They can either divert the entire river flow, drying up our Siang, or release water at once, causing unprecedented floods havoc downstream.”
He added that not just India, but the construction of the dam might also affect Bangladesh.
“People’s safety and country’s security cannot be compromised. Our motto should be ‘nation first’ and we have to think for India’s security,” the former minister of state for minority affairs said.
While supporting construction of dams with storage capacity to check floods in the region, the MLA from Pasighat West Assembly constituency informed that there is no water treaty between India and China so far.
Referring to the opposition by anti-dam protagonists, the lawmaker suggested that they should be consulted before constructing dams, so that the interest of the people is looked into.
“Hydropower is Arunachal Pradesh’ only resource,” he added.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu had in September last year informed that the Centre has proposed to construct a large barrage on the Siang river to keep the area secure in view of the potential threat from the huge dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River.
“In case of release of excessive water, we need to have big structures to protect ourselves from floods. The Centre, too, has expressed concern about the position of the Siang River once the Chinese project is completed. We have to keep Siang alive. If there is diversion of water by China, massive land erosion will take place,” Khandu had said. (PTI)
