GUWAHATI: Crippled by three waves of devastating flood, Assam on Wednesday appealed to China to share hydrological data of Brahmaputra river, which flows through Tibet, with India to help state prepare for the oncoming disaster in advance.
State education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that according to central government, China for "mysterious reasons" has not shared the hydrological data. "We appeal to China to share the data. We are formally writing to central government to continue persuading China to share the data so that we can take early measures in the event of flood," Sarma said.
The two countries have two agreements signed in 2013 and 2015 on sharing of hydrological data of Brahmaputra river during monsoon every year, between May 15 to October 15. The data share by upper riparian state, China, to lower riparian states, India and Bangladesh is essential every monsoon to allow anticipation of the flow of the water and take necessary measures to deal with flooding.
He said that when the first two waves came, beginning in April, there were heavy rain but not in the next wave. "When the third wave of flood (from August 10) hit the state there wasn’t abnormally high rainfall neither in Arunachal Pradesh nor in Assam. Where did all the water come from?" he questioned adding that this was a matter that needs to researched, while referring to media reports that China could trigger floods in Assam by releasing water from its numerous dams built across Brahmaputra river which flows in the country as Tsang Po.
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