New Delhi: India will take up with China the issue of a tributary of the Brahmaputra being blocked at the next meeting of the expert-level mechanism between the two countries, a senior official said on Thursday.
“We have a bilateral agreement with China to share information on cross border rivers which include Brahmaputra and Sutlej,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here. “We also have an expert-level mechanism which meets regularly to discuss issues concerning cross border rivers,” he said. “We have a data sharing arrangement under which the Chinese side provides us data during flood season on Brahmaputra and Sutlej.”
According to Xinhua news agency, China “on Friday (September 30) blocked a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo river (Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra) as part of its most expensive hydro project”. “The Lalho project on the Xiabuqu River in Xigaze, involves an investment of 4.95 billion yuan ($740 million),” Xinhua quoted Zhang Yunbao, head of the project’s administration bureau, as saying.
Th Brahmaputra flows into Arunachal Pradesh from the Xigaze region which is also known as Shigatse.–IANS
