(TibetanReview.net, Dec20’24) –Seeking to reason with those protesting against the proposed hydropower project on the Siang river, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has on Dec 19 said the aim of the project is to counter possible threats posed by China with its 60,000 MW hydropower project in upstream Tibet on the Yarlung Tsangpo river just before it enters Tuting in Upper Siang.
“In case, China releases water from their dams all of a sudden, a trail of unimaginable destruction will sweep through the Siang belt, Assam and Bangladesh.
“It is also inevitable that the volume of water in the Siang river will drastically get reduced during the winters so much (so) that you will be able to cross the mighty Siang on foot. Would you like such a situation? I certainly won’t,” the deccanherald.com Dec 19 quoted Khandu as saying, addressing a function at Boleng in Siang district.
“We are optimistic that with the progress being made through bilateral talks with China, relations will improve; but we cannot remain complacent and be prepared for the unseen,” he has added.
He has said China, which is not a signatory to the International Water Conventions, intends to divert the water from the multiple water reservoirs to be created under the project to dry regions of Tibet and elsewhere in the PRC.
The Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, Khandu has said, has been proposed by New Delhi to maintain natural flow of water in the Siang river throughout the year and flood modulation in case of water release by China.
The Yarlung Tsangpo is called the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra in Assam.
Khandu’s comments came amid strong protests led by several civil society organisations against possible adverse impact of the proposed hydro power project on the Siang river. The protesters have refused to allow the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), a federal Public Sector Undertaking, to carry out a pre-feasibility study for the major project.
Khandu has rejected reports that central forces will be used by the government to forcibly execute the project.
“We are a democratic country. We do not believe in forcing projects on our own people. We believe in taking into confidence the last man in the queue.”
He has also said, according the etvbharat.com Dec 19, “If you don’t want a dam, if you don’t want a hydropower project, there won’t be. Chapter closed”.
“But,” he has added, “The case at hand is not about a hydropower project. It’s about a Multipurpose Project, a project of national importance and envisioned by the Government of India and the Niti Aayog.”
The NITI Aayog (lit. ’Policy Commission’; abbreviation for National Institution for Transforming India) serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development. It was established in 2015 to replace the country’s Planning Commission.