ITANAGAR, Dec 1: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) has expressed serious concern over the news carried by Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party stating that China is going to build a mega hydropower project on Brahmaputra river in Tibet from next year onwards under its 14th Five-Year Plan.
Voicing its concern through a press release on Tuesday, AAPSU said it has been constantly raising the issue of ‘across-the-border activities’ with both the State and Union governments. The union recalled that during a joint meeting between the then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and NESO members in 2018 in New Delhi, it had strongly voiced its opposition regarding the suspicious activities undertaken by the Chinese on Siang river with the appeal to the Union government to take up the matter with China.
“The proposed project, if materialized, will wreak havoc on the people living in the lower riparian states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and even Bangladesh, besides posing serious threat to the region’s ecology,” the release read. The union has also drawn attention to the October 2018 episode when the Siang dried up all of a sudden followed by an unprecedented surge of water the very next day bringing along with it several floating barrels bearing the Chinese insignia of Isocyanate (C6 H9 O2 N2), an explosive mainly used for heavy construction activities.  
“However, time and again our concerns were downplayed by the Union government citing natural calamities, formation of artificial lakes and numerous other reasons. But the recent report coming in from the state-run Chinese media has substantiated our repeated concerns,” the union said, while reiterating its demand of taking up the Siang/Brahmaputra river issue with the Chinese counterpart so that lives of the people living in the downstream and the region’s ecology are not threatened. 
General Secretary, AAPSU Tobom Dai has called for an immediate drawing of a water treaty with China keeping in view of the large scale impact it will have on Arunachal Pradesh. “We must remember that this is not only about Siang/Brahmaputra but about all the rivers originating from China and flowing into India. Government of India should also take up the cause of our people in all international forums,” he added. AAPSU PR

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List