‘Water arrangement with China adequate’
India has not felt the need for a bilateral river waters sharing agreement with China similar to the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, a government source said, implying that the present arrangement is adequate.
The response should be seen in the context of a sentiment voiced in quasi-official circles that a formal pact with China would not only serve the interests of water security by codifying the rights, responsibilities and obligations of the parties concerned, but also allay the fears of the people living in India’s north-eastern states if China indiscriminately built hydro-electric projects on its side of the Brahmaputra.
Amplifying New Delhi’s position, the source said that India and China have established an expert-level mechanism to discuss water issues, which meets annually. It comprises officials from the Indian ministries of water resources and external affairs, and their Chinese counterparts.
The fifth meeting of this mechanism concluded in Beijing in April 2011. Also, for the last nearly
three years, the Chinese side has been sharing data of three rivers, including Brahmaputra, twice a day with India, between June and September of every year.
It was pointed out that the average annual flow at the point the Brahmaputra enters Bangladesh is larger than at the point it enters the Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh, which implied that there is ample scope for Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to “harness and utilise the waters of the Brahmaputra”, as the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said in its June 14 statement. Water is a state subject in India.
The source went on to assert that the basis for New Delhi’s assertion, that the dam being built at Zangmu in Tibet is a run of the river hydro-electric project which does not store water, and, therefore, will not adversely impact the downstream areas in India, is high-calibre Indian satellite imagery. Incidentally, ascertaining facts from indigenous sources indicates that India has graduated from a position of relying merely on Chinese assurances to making determinations on its own.
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