Guwahati: The external affairs ministry has taken up the matter of the Brahmaputra's turbidity with China for a "pragmatic and exhaustive" study to find out the real cause following widespread concern in the Northeast.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said this in a meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence in Delhi on Tuesday evening after Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal urged the Centre to take up the issue.
During the meeting, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley, minister of road transport, water resources and river development Nitin Gadkari and Swaraj discussed the matter and the steps taken so far.
A statement issued by the chief minister's office here on Wednesday said Modi assured Sonowal that the Centre had taken the matter seriously. It has engaged the Central Water Commission to look into the matter and directed the water resources ministry to test the Brahmaputra's water and take remedial steps on a warfooting. He asked other ministries to work in synergy.
Considering the trans-national extent of the Brahmaputra, Modi asked the foreign affairs ministry to take up the matter with the neighbouring country to get to the root of the problem and find a solution.
The BJP-led state government has been facing sharp criticism for failing to take up the matter of the Brahmaputra's turbidity with China.
Sonowal told Modi that the state government has sent water samples, collected from 15 places from Jonai to Dhubri, to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, and IIT Guwahati for testing.
Many suspect that the Brahmaputra has turned turbid because of the construction of a dam or tunnel by China to divert the Yarlung Tsangpo (as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet). Experts and local organisations are demanding that the Centre convince China to allow Indian experts to study the cause of turbidity of the Brahmaputra.
China on Wednesday denied plans to construct a tunnel to divert the Yarlong Sangpo. "China's position on the eastern part of the Sino-Indian border is consistent and clear," said foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang in response to questions, adds PTI.
