NEW DELHI, Dec 19 - The Centre today came under pressure of the MPs in the Lok Sabha to make public its discussion with China regarding contamination of the Brahmaputra river and to spell out its plan to avoid such disasters in the future.
Raising the matter during the Zero Hour, MPs cutting across party lines expressed their concern regarding the contamination in the Siang-Brahmaputra river basins.
Highlighting the issue, BJD�s Bhartruhari Mahtab said contamination of the Brahmaputra has been raised not only by the students of Assam but also by the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister and a member of this House.
�Recently, we were told... there has been a meeting between the External Affairs Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister of China. ...the Brahmaputra is a source of energy and water, not only in the Northeast or in Assam... but it also caters to the irrigation facility of our neighbour Bangladesh,� he said.
�I, therefore, urge upon the government to make public the discussion that it had with China and what is the stand of the government on the issue and apprise this House what steps have been taken by the government to avoid such incidents in future and thus to keep our bilateral relations with China healthy,� he said.
Bijoya Chakravarty said the Brahmaputra river has been contaminated right at the source. �If the Brahmaputra is contaminated, other rivers will be contaminated as well,� she said.
MPs Nishikant Dubey, Bhairon Prasad Mishra, Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel, Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Meenakshi Lekhi also took part in the discussion.
Later, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar intervened and said that the issue raised by Mahtab is a matter of serious concern. �I will definitely be bringing this issue to the notice of the government at the highest level,� the minister said.
