NEW DELHI, Jan 17 — In what could go a long way in better flood management in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, China has agreed to share information on a real-time basis. The information on flow of water in Brahmaputra would be provided to India twice daily. Describing the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs with China on flood fore casting as a big step, the Union Ministers of State for Water Resources, Bijoya Chakraborty said that it would have direct impact in Assam and its neighbouring States. According to the terms of the MoU, the China would be providing India with real-time information on flow of water from three of its stations located in the upper reaches in Tibet. All the three stations are located along the river Yaluqangbu in upper reaches is known as Tsangpo in Tibet and Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and Brahmaputra in Assam.
The Minister said that the modalities for implementation of the MoU would be worked out later. The issues that remained to be sorted out included the location of the receiving stations of the information relayed by China. The Minister said that it was nearly after four decades that China has agreed to share date on Brahmaputra with India. A similar agreement that was in force from 1955 to 1962 was discontinued in following the Chinese war. It may be recalled here that alarm bells were set ringing when in June 2000, a flash flood in Siang wreaked havoc in four districts of Arunachal Pradesh leaving behind a trail of destructions.
Officials of the Central Water Commission said that sharing of data by China on a daily basis would help in avoiding a repeat of the flash floods of 2000 in Arunachal Pradesh. The officials of the Ministry of Water Resources have been in touch with their Chinese counterpart ever since that and in June this year a team visited China. Officials said they are convinced with the explanation given by the Chinese counterpart about the flash floods of June 2000, which they attributed to breach in a natural dam. The flash floods that wreaked havoc in Arunachal Pradesh also caused extensive damages in China, sources said.