The Hindu : Front Page : Chinese villages evacuated, technical team near site

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 14, 2004

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Chinese villages evacuated, technical team near site

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, AUG. 13. Several Chinese villages downstream of the artificial lake created by landslips across the Pareechu river in the Tibet Autonomous Region have been evacuated even as the Chinese authorities are constantly monitoring the flow in the river.

Officials monitoring the situation here said that a Chinese technical team had been stationed about half-a-kilometre away from the site of the landslips, which had created the huge lake. Some more experts are also being sent to the area.

According to the officials, China has informed India that water is still flowing over the top of the "dam" created by the landslips. First reports of the overflow came on Wednesday.

`Situation unstable'

Also, landslips are still occurring and the situation is unstable. However, there has been no appreciable increase in the water levels downstream of the landslips till early evening on Thursday. The lack of access to the lake site had forced Chinese technical experts, too, to remain a good half-a-kilometre away.

Denying reports on Indian television channels yesterday, the officials said the Chinese Government had informed New Delhi that no "controlled blasting" had been carried out in the lake to allow water flow.

An existing hotline between the Indian and Chinese armies in the Spanggur area is being used to pass on information about the latest situation. Senior Army personnel are on the spot to monitor the situation and receive the information from the Chinese.

"The Chinese technical team is basically in [a] monitoring mode. They have conveyed to us that blasting the dam might be dangerous," the officials told this correspondent.

Apart from the exchange of information between the two countries in Spanggur, the Chinese side is also keeping the Indian Embassy in Beijing posted with the latest information.

Expert panel

In a related development, the Union Home Ministry today set up a four-member experts committee to advice the crisis management group set up to deal with the situation that might arise if the artificial "dam" across the Pareechu river bursts.

S.K. Aggarwal from the Central Water Commission, C.B. Singh, Deputy Surveyor-General, V. Bhanumurthy of the National Remote Sensing Agency and Y.P. Sharda, senior geologist, are the committee members.

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