{"id":224168,"date":"2025-01-26T00:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T00:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/dam-vs-dam-project-in-arunachal-to-take-on-china-water-bomb\/"},"modified":"2025-01-26T00:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T00:16:11","slug":"dam-vs-dam-project-in-arunachal-to-take-on-china-water-bomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/26\/dam-vs-dam-project-in-arunachal-to-take-on-china-water-bomb\/","title":{"rendered":"Dam vs dam: Project in Arunachal to take on China \u2018water bomb\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Parong (Arunachal Pradesh): Signalling a new era of water geopolitics along the volatile border with China, India is gearing up to build its largest hydropower dam in Arunachal Pradesh that could mitigate a potential \u2018water bomb<\/a>\u2019 in case of a conflict.The `1.5-lakh crore project, with a colossal water storage capacity<\/a> of 9.2 billion cubic metres (bcm), is strategically planned on Siang River \u2014 known downstream as the Brahmaputra and in China as Yarlung Zangbo. The dam aims to counter Beijing\u2019s construction of a giant dam on the river at Medog, just across the McMahon Line.<\/p>\n

ET has learnt that Parong, a remote hamlet in Arunachal Pradesh\u2019s Siang district, has been earmarked as the likely site for this ambitious 465-m high project, with drilling machines for pre-feasibility studies expected to arrive at the location next month.<\/p>\n

According to an Arunachal government officer, alternative sites further upstream, Dite Dime and Ugeng, are currently off the table, leaving Parong as the only location slated for drilling operations. \u201cSite pre-feasibility studies may take about a month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s confirmed China is constructing a 60,000 MW hydropower project near the Great Bend, where the river takes a dramatic U-turn,\u201d said another official of chief engineer rank.<\/p>\n


\u201cThis is where the river (Yarlung Zangbo) takes a dramatic U-turn before flowing into Arunachal Pradesh. As the estimated storage capacity of the dam in China is 5.5 bcm, as against 9.2 bcm of ours, even if China releases its entire volume\u2014a \u2018water bomb,\u2019 so to speak\u2014our dam will have the capacity to absorb that much water,\u201d said the official.He explained the river drops some 3 km at the Great Bend before gushing into Arunachal Pradesh, giving China a natural advantage to generate significantly more electricity compared with the 11,000 MW capacity of the proposed Indian dam.<\/p>\n

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Once the project, officially named Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, gets underway, vast swathes of land across more than 30 villages, including Parong, Sitang, Riga, Geku and Dite Dime, will be submerged, necessitating the relocation of displaced residents to alternative sites on hilltops. What\u2019s more, the entire region where both dams are set to be located, lies within a highly seismic zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cSections of the existing road along the Siang River, which winds its way up to the strategically important Tuting Advanced Landing Ground, will also be submerged due to the dam,\u201d a state official said. \u201cTo address this, a new road at a much higher elevation is being planned.\u201d In Parong, a hilltop village of 125 families, resistance to the proposed dam is strong, even as government officials are trying to woo reluctant locals. \u201cWe\u2019re not just opposing the dam, we-\u2019re against any feasibility studies being conducted here,\u201d said Tato Pabin, a prominent leader from Parong. \u201cOur orange farms, which thrive in low-lying areas along the river, will be completely wiped out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tatung Jamoh, a resident of Beging on the opposite bank of the river, highlighted the stakes involved, noting that each family in the area earns `2-5 lakh annually from orange farming \u2014 a key reason for the unease surrounding the proposed dam.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not opposed to feasibility studies,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when the government finds the dam viable and conducts public hearings, our stance will depend on its proposed dam height, our estimated losses and the compensation package offered.
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parong (Arunachal Pradesh): Signalling a new era of water geopolitics along the volatile border with China, India is gearing up to build its largest hydropower dam in Arunachal Pradesh that could mitigate a potential \u2018water bomb\u2019 in case of a conflict.The `1.5-lakh crore project, with a colossal water storage capacity of 9.2 billion cubic metres […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-42031747\/et-logo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[3699,176171,35332,176178,168,176173,27860,176172,21436,176176,176179,7011,176174,556,176177,176175],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224170,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224168\/revisions\/224170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}