India has proposed to build a 10 Gigawatts hydropower project in East India after the reports of China constructing a dam on the Brahmaputra river.
The river, Yarlung Tsangbo in China flows into India through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam moving to Bangladesh. However, it is revealed that China’s construction projects would either create water scarcity or result in floods in India.
In order to counter the upcoming contingency, an official from the Water Ministry has said that it has become imperative to build a dam in Arunachal Pradesh to combat the consequences of the Chinese projects.
Although the proposal of the dam in under advisement of the government, they are additionally planning to create a water storage capacity to deal with the effects of China’s dams on the water flow in India.
Another major concern is the location of the dam, the region is highly rough and constructing a dam would prove to be a challenging task. It is also rumoured that China has deliberately undertaker the project as another attempt of disrupting the harmony and peace in India.
China has undertaker these projects amidst the unfriendly relations between India and China. When both the countries have been engaged in a military standoff for months including several physical face-offs. Now, the military and terrestrial hostility between the countries has escalated to water wars.
Reports have stated that the dams in the Brahmaputra would end up in another such hostile encounter as China’s Dam would bring it closer to the Indian border.
On November 30, China had announced the construction of a 60 Gigawatt hydropower capacity on their section of the Brahmaputra river. The Power Construction Corporation of China in the conference said that the construction of a dam on the river is a historical benchmark.
The Chinese have tried to explain that such projects would not have a serious and significant impact on India. However, the senior officials of the Water Ministry are not sure how long this assurance is supposed to last.
Bangladesh has also intervened in the debate stating that such projects should be decided in multilateral discussions since their projects are likely to obstruct the water flow of their neighbouring countries.
