Yarlung Tsangpo dam: China’s mega dam project on Brahmaputra meant for destruction? Poses huge threat to India and…

Yarlung Tsangpo dam, the enviornment’s largest hydropower dam being constructed by China on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which is identified because the Brahmaputra in India, in Tibet, may pose a valuable chance to India and other decrease-riparian states along with Bangladesh once $170 billion (about Rs 14 lakh crore) mega venture is done and turns into operational by 2030.

Why China is constructing the enviornment’s largest dam on Brahmaputra?

China has claimed that the immense dam is aimed to bolster the country’s energy independence because the huge hydropower venture is projected to create 60,000 MW of electricity or 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity yearly, which is equal to the annual electricity consumption of entire Britain, and three instances bigger than the ability of the Three Gorges Dam– for the time being the largest dam within the enviornment.

With an estimated label of 1.2 trillion yuan (about $170 billion), the Yarlung Tsangpo dam is the most costly infrastructure venture in recorded historical past, and is being constructed within the Nyingchi region of Tibet, on the decrease part of the river where its makes a U-flip at the Great Bend and enters Arunachal Pradesh in India.

The mega dam will comprise as many as five cascading hydropower generation put, taking total advantage of the Brahmaputra’s 2,000- metre elevation slope. Nonetheless, the venture offers a valuable engineering narrate as it requires around half a dozen tunnels to be constructed the Namcha Barwa hills in enlighten in self belief to divert about half of the river’s water.

The Yarlung Tsangpo dam became once launched after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the border region in 2021. Terming it because the ” venture of the century”, Keqiang asserted that the dam will resolve electricity crisis in Tibet and additionally provide the extra energy to the northern and jap formulation of China.

How Yarlung Tsangpo dam may affect India and Bangladesh?

China has many instances acknowledged that the huge dam will not location off any bother to decrease riparian states esteem India and Bangladesh, claiming that the venture became once licensed after decades of survey-reviewed research and research. Nonetheless, each New Delhi and Dhaka comprise expressed narrate that the sheer size and magnitude of the dam would enable Beijing to weaponize the Brahmaputra waters in a war scenario.

In step with consultants, northeastern states esteem Arunachal Pradesh and Assam may face severe water shortages if China decides to employ the dam as a reservoir to retailer water, in particular in non-monsoon months. In disagreement, China may also location off severe floods in these states if it releases the saved water, the truth is turning the dam correct into a weapon of mass destruction in a war scenario.

In a fresh statement, Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu referred to as the dam a ticking “water bomb”, that will retailer or originate a whopping 80% of the river’s water. The Brahmaputra’s sediment makes farms in Assam and Bangladesh fertile, and this would very correctly be held wait on by the dam, hurting agriculture and fisheries in these states.

Within the same style, about 55% of irrigation in Bangladesh is reckoning on the Brahmaputra, and agricultural manufacturing within the country may drop by 15% if the float of the river dips by appropriate 5%. Moreover, the country’s vital mangrove woodland, a UNESCO World Heritage Location, may also be in chance on account of potential water shortage.

As per varied estimates, Brahmaputra meets 65% of Bangladesh’s water wants, and potential water shortages will comprise an affect on agriculture, fisheries, and enlarge salt intrusion within the country’s coastal areas.

Furthermore, the Yarlung Tsangpo dam is being in-constructed an earthquake-prone region of the Himalayas, and should location off valuable devastation in decrease riparian states if it ruptures or breaks apart on account of a huge seismic event.

What's India’s response?

Meanwhile, India plans to create Siang hydropower venture in Arunachal Pradesh with an expected ability of 10 gigawatts. The venture goals to make certain water safety within the region and prick the affect of China’s mega dam, on the opposite hand, the endeavor faces hurdles esteem native opposition and environmental challenges.

Moreover, India has demanded transparency and info sharing from China thru the Educated Stage Mechanism (ELM). Experts deem that India and Bangladesh can jointly put power on China, and the three nations attain a tripartite settlement below the UN Water Conference 1997.

Notably, Bangladesh has additionally lately sought technical knowledge on the affect of the dam.