Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said the reported move by China operationalising a hydro-power station on the Brahmaputra river will cause irreparable damage to Assam and other parts of the Brahmaputra basin.
In a statement, Gogoi said the state government has all along been taking up the issue with the Centre on the reported move of China building dams on the Brahmaputra since long.
Gogoi had also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the matter with the Chinese President during his last visit to China.
Prime Minister Modi perhaps did not take up the matter seriously, which is of vital importance to the people of Assam and North East, the Chief Minister asserted.
"I have pleaded the Prime Minister to take up the issue with the President of China during his visit to that country. However, I have serious doubts whether he took up the matter at all," Gogoi maintained.
"The fact that China has built dams on the Brahmaputra has left the Indian Government unaware, which itself is a clear indication of the Centre's casual approach, which virtually failed to persuade China to desist from going ahead with the construction," the Chief Minister further said.
Gogoi observed "It is an utter failure at the highest diplomatic level to prevail upon China not to go ahead with the construction plan. What purpose will it serve if the bonhomie and camaraderie generated by talks could not be translated into concrete actions vis a vis protecting India's interests?"
If Prime Minister Modi's much vaunted 'Act East' policy does not act when it matters the most to the people of North East, then in whose interests the policy has been rechristened? he asked.
China yesterday operationalised its USD 1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet, built on the Brahmaputra river.
