GUWAHATI: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday accused China of encroaching on the right to water usage of the people downstream of the Brahmaputra by giving a go-ahead to the construction of a major dam just 40 km upstream from the Indian side.
Khandu said while the Centre has been apprised of the matter, China continues to take an aggressive stand on the issue.
He pointed out that those upstream cannot violate the rights of people downstream.
It may be mentioned that the Chinese government has approved the construction of the world’s largest hydropower project on the upper stream of the Brahmaputra river, Yarlung Tsangpo.
The dam will be built near the ‘great bend’ of the river, just across the border from Arunachal Pradesh in Tibet, where the river falls over a 2,000 metre-drop before turning to flow into India.
The completion of the dam would lead to the diversion of as much as 200 billion cubic metres of water annually from the Brahmaputra that will be used by the Chinese to produce electricity and solve the water scarcity in China’s arid Northwest.
Meanwhile, Khandu also reacted to the concerns over the construction of three villages on the Chinese side of the border.
