by Nava Thakuria
Guwahati: Member of Lok Sabha and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Assam unit chief Dilip Saikia strongly opposes China’s proposed hydroelectric dam on Brahmaputra in Tibet, which has been projected to be the largest dam across the world. During the Zero Hour in Parliament on 10 February 2025, the Parliamentarian from Darrang-Udalguri constituency raised serious concerns asserting that Beijing’s move to build the massive dam will have devastating effects on Assam as well as the entire north-eastern region while endangering its environment, culture and civilization. MP Saikia urged the Union government to take immediate diplomatic and strategic measures to halt its construction.
The mighty Brahmaputra river originates in Tibet (now under China) and flows down to Arunachal Pradesh and Assam before entering Bangladesh to culminate in the Bay of Bengal. The proposed dam on Yarlung Tsangpo (Tibetan name of Brahmaputra) in eastern edges of the Tibetan plateau is close to the Arunachal border. Given the seismic activities in the locality, the construction of such a massive dam poses a serious environmental threat and grave dangers to the local communities, stated MP Saikia.
As the region frequently experiences earthquakes the dam will put immense pressure on the ecosystem, potentially triggering catastrophic disasters in lower riperain localities of northeast India and northern Bangladesh. Once completed, the hydroelectric project is expected to generate over 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually and Beijing has decided to spend $137 billion in meterialisin the dam. As it will store a large volume of water, Beijing will enjoy a controlling authority over the river flow. Thus the dam may create water shortage or devastating floods in downstream areas.
