GUWAHATI, Jan 3 � The Government of China has assured India that the hydropower project at Zangmu would not reduce the flow of water of the river Brahmaputra to the lower reaches. This was disclosed by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna in a letter to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
The External Affairs Minister assured the Assam Government that the Centre is continuously monitoring the situation and would take up the matter again with China if necessary.
Krishna said that he had personally taken up the matter with the Government of China during his last visit to that country. The Chinese Government assured that Zangmu would be a small project and it would not regulate the flow of the volume of water.
The External Affairs Minister further said that a joint expert level mechanism between India and China is in place to discuss issues relating to trans border rivers and the committee has met four times so far. India and China have also signed a memorandum of understanding for providing hydrological information on the Brahmaputra.
The External Affairs Minister wrote the letter in response to a letter written to him by Gogoi. In his letter Gogoi expressed apprehension that the construction of a 510 MW power project at Zangmu and the possibility of diversion of the Brahmaputra would create problems for Assam. If the river is diverted with construction of dams in China, Assam may face water scarcity, he added.
