By IANS,
New Delhi : India Wednesday said it had taken up the contentious issue of the construction of a dam on the Brahamaputra river with the Chinese side many times, but Beijing had consistently denied it.
“We have taken up the issue with China many times. China has consistently denied that such a dam was being constructed,” Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters here.
She was responding to a question on the reported construction at the Zangmu site on the Chinese side of the Brahmaputra river, which was confirmed by The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA).
The NRSA presented evidence of “houses, construction/excavation, and movement of trucks” in and around a three-four kilometre range at the site, according to a media report.
India has apprehensions that the proposed dam, which has been planned to generate 540 MW, will end up witholding water and feels it’s inappropriate due to the absence of a bilateral treaty over trans-boundary rivers.
Last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had taken up the issue with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summit.