Indian media and misinformation on Chinese dam on the Brahmaputra

The Indian media has been discussing Tibet for the last two weeks. The visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tawang, a Tibetan region "disputed" between India and China, is a key story these days. The subject of this blog, however, is a different story. On 4th November 2009, India's Zee TV News reported that China is indeed building a dam on the Brahmaputra river. Satellite images from India's National Remote Sensing Agency were reported as shocking evidence of the dam construction activity.

Readers of the Tibetan Plateau Blog know that China's building of dam on the Brahmaputra (or Yarlung Tsangpo as it is known in Tibet) is old news. The construction of Zangmu Hydropower Project is openly reported in Chinese media for a long time. I blogged about this development as early as March 5, 2009. The Zee News report did not talk about the four other dam projects, which are planned on the Brahmaputra, just near the Zangmu project.

Another important point that the Indian media does not clarify is that the Zangmu dam, which is located on the upper-middle reaches of Brahmaputra, should not be confused with the controversial mega-hydropower project that may get built at the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra, just near the point where the river enters Indian controlled territory. Much of the Indian and Bangladesh's hoopla over Chinese dams on the Brahmputra revolve around rumours of this latter mega-project. Indian misunderstanding is further obscured by this image from the Great Bend area in the Zee TV News report. Print news materials are even worse. For example, this article completely confuses the two different projects as one.

To read my views about about the proposed mega project on the Great Bend, and a disturbing Indian view that India should quickly build some dams on the Brahmaputra to establish prior use claims over China, see this post.

Here is the youtube video of the Zee News story, followed by my rough English translation of the Hindi audio report:



Despite all the opposition from India, China is building a dam on the Brahmaputra river. India has found clear evidence that a dam is being built on the Brahmaputra River. As evident in satellite images released by National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), a dam is being built on the river. Trucks moving about 3 to 4 kilometers near the construction site have also been observed. NRSA has alerted the Indian government about these findings. This matter has been raised with China, according to India.

Zee News correspondent, Dilip Tiwari, is here with us with more information on this. It is clear again that China's intentions are not good, Dilip. Dilip, can you hear us? OK, we will speak with Dilip [if/when we can reach each other]. Let's report to you again that despite all the opposition expressed by India, China is building a dam on the Brahmaputra. Clear evidence has been found that a dam is being built on the Brahmaputra. As evident in satellite images released by National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), a dam is being built on the river.

And at this time, we have former Foreign "Sachiv" (representative?), Mr. Kamal Sabbal. Welcome to Zee News, Sabbal-ji, now that it is clear from the satellite images that China is building a dam on the Brahmaputra in full swing, what steps should India take? And how serious is this situation from the Indian point of view?

[Mr. Kamal Sabbal speaks over the phone:] "Right now, it may not be a serious issue as the Indian Prime Minister has said that this is a 'run-off-river' project, which does not have storage [water reservoir] and there will not be decrease in supply of water. However, this can get serious in the future since China has many major plans. One of their plans is to divert water from Brahmaputra to Northern China. If they undertake such a plan, then the consequences will be very serious. The thing is that, projects like this, develop slowly overtime. China has just started the work. If we don't speak to them properly, fail to ask for explanations, or fail to express our concerns, then these [projects] will develop further. So we should find out what their plans are. What are their short and medium term plans? And what effects will these have on us [India]? We should also realize that these projects will have tremendous impacts in Bangladesh. So we should also try to see if India and Bangladesh can jointly put pressure on China.

[News anchor:] How can India lay its concerns in front of China? What immediate steps should India take?

[Mr. Kamal Sabbal:] One, there should be [a joint] experts committee from both the countries to share data and to assess the impacts of the plans and projects. [You] see, if the projects don't have serious downstream impact, we cannot stop them. If water supply is indeed likely to decrease, and then there is the case of global warming and everyone is afraid that water supply will be reduced for everyone, from that perspective, it will become a very serious issue. So data-sharing is a very important point. And the third thing that we should do, with full force, is to undertake the [dam] projects on our [the Indian] side ... because if we keep talking, that these [Chinese] dams will impact us, and if we don't have any downstream projects of our own, our protests will not have much strength. However, if we have downstream projects, these [projects] will have impact over them (Chinese plans and projects), then our protests will also have more weight in international law and to the international community.

[News anchor:] Yes. It is necessary that the issue is taken up seriously by the Indian government. Thank you, Sibbal-ji, for talking to Zee News.