Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to persuade China not to attempt to dam the Brahmaputra.
Referring to newspaper reports, Mr Gogoi told reporters, “I had raised my concern in 2005 itself as any dam on river Brahmaputra in China may have disastrous impact over the ecology of northeastern states.”
He suggested that New Delhi should have a water-sharing treaty with China.
Mr Gogoi announced that he would be visiting New Delhi soon to take up the issue at the highest level.
China has recently acknowledged that it was building a massive hydel power project on the Brahmaputra in its territory. The first of the six power generating units of the 510 MW Zangmu hydel project will be commissioned by 2014.
Mr Gogoi however pointed out that Beijing has assured New Delhi at the highest level that the project is “run-of-the-river”, which would have no impact on downstream.
Mr Gogoi said, “I will also try to meet foreign secretary Nirupama Rao to know the technical aspects of China’s assurances whether it is feasible or not.”