Arunachal MP again sends letter to PM Modi over polluting Siang river

In the letter, Ering who represented the Arunachal East constituency said that every year till April, the slow-melting glaciers and the Eastern Himalayan forests are the primary source of river water.

“During the monsoon months, rainfall carries sediments from the mountain slopes to the rivers and also causes dangerous landslides. In November, the monsoons turn weak and the rivers of Arunachal Pradesh turn blue. As the monsoon weakens, the river water clears up of their sediments and people can make use of water again,” Ering said in the letter.

Due to the powerful underwater earthquake in November, a possible threat of natural hazard has emerged due to debris dams formed in the Yarlung Sangpo belt.

“However, 2017 was an exception. Intense earthquake activity in November 2017 triggered widespread landslides on the Yarlung-Tsangpo river (200 km upstream from Tuting). Three natural rockslide dams have formed on the river due to blockage by landslides and debris. It is only a matter of time before the natural dams burst and unleash a severe disaster along the Siang river valley. Satellite imagery by NASA and planet.com show that landslides of this size and danger level have not occurred on the Siang river for almost half a century. Complicating this issue further, between October 21 and October 27, 2017, an avalanche occurred on the Sendapu glacier which feeds into the Yarlung-Tsangpo,” Ering added.

The Arunachal Pradesh MP further said in his letter that, pools of water can be seen on the glacier surface, indicating that melting ice may have caused mud and rocks to slip.

“This avalanche was not triggered by earthquakes. This was the first indication of the Siang river being contaminated by natural reasons and matches with the first reports given in early November by the vigilant people of Arunachal Pradesh. The big M6.4 earthquake on Gyala Peri, and a series of earthquakes happened exactly 20 days later on the morning of November 17. The M6.4 that struck on November17 was the largest and the shallowest earthquake since the year 1900 in that region. The high earthquake activity of the region is due to the Indian plate thrusting and squeezing against the Tibetan Plateau uplifting the Himalayas. Earthquake swarms have been reported from the area of the Yigong dam before and were behind the disaster on the Siang in year 2000. Earthquakes on the mountains Gyala Peri and Namcha Barwa have been rare events until now. The scale of the November landslides was so massive that just within 30 km of the river’s length, the mountain slopes have been stripped bare of forests and now are just mud and rock. Alarmingly, along 12 km of the river’s length, the landslides have partially blocked the river flow and have created three natural dams one behind the other,” Ering said in his letter.

Ninong Ering also urged the centre to take proactive and necessary steps to keep people of Arunachal Pradesh safe from this danger.

Earlier, the Arunachal Pradesh MP had sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 25 last year and raised the issue.

Ninong Ering appealed the PM to raise the issue in international forum.

“The recent report said that, the Chinese government has constructed a 1000 km long tunnel – the world’s longest - to divert the Siang river (Tsangpo in Tibet) from Sangri in Sothern Tibet to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang is likely to be true though the Chinese government had denied it,” Ninong Ering said.

In his letter sent to the PM on November 25 last year, Ninong Ering said that, a few months back a report which was denied by the Chinese government is regard to the diverting a channel over Tsangpo (Siang/Brahmaputra) in Tibet has become an issue of concern.

“After the report the river Siang has become muddy and slushy and it is already two months that, the river Siang is black contaminated. It is unusual phenomena and reason for the river dirty is unknown. I have already put questions and also under rule 377 to be discussed in the parliament but as it was not in session. I am requesting you to use your good office to seek the reason of the river being muddy in this season where the water is crystal clear. A 600 km long tunnel is already started in the Yunnan province as a rehearsal,” Ninong Ering said in his letter.

The Arunachal Pradesh MP further said that, there is no other reason that, the mighty Siang river tributary of Brahmaputra should be dirty in the month of November, but has occurred due to heavy land excavation in the Chinese side which has to be verified by an international team to ascertain the international treaty.

“When I saw the water, it looks like cement mixed water. It is a very serious issue and the Centre must to take it seriously,” the Arunachal Pradesh MP said.

Ninong Ering said that, a large scale of fish had died in the Siang river in recent times and he got it confirmed from Tuting and Geling areas in Upper Siang district close to China border.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)