A HIMALAYAN RIVER THREAT

CHINA’S COLOSSAL BRAHMAPUTRA DAM PROJECT SPARKS ALARM IN INDIA, FUELLING CONCERNS OVER WATER SECURITY, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AND BEIJING'S GROWING UPSTREAM CONTROL OVER A CRITICAL RIVER

- KAUSHIK DEKA

Originating from the icy grip of the Angsi Glacier, near the northern slopes of the Himalayas, close to Lake Manasarovar in western Tibet, the Yarlung Tsangpo—known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra in Assam—embarks on a long and winding 2,900 km journey. It flows eastward across the Tibetan Plateau, a seemingly calm giant, until it reaches the easternmost edge of the Himalayas. And then, it encounters an obstacle—a towering 7,782-metre peak called the Namcha Barwa. But the river does not stop. In one of nature’s most breathtaking feats, it takes a dramatic U-turn around the mountain—the Great Bend, one of the sharpest and most spectacular river bends on Earth.

What follows is pure fury. The river plunges into the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, a monstrous 500km-long chasm with depths exceeding 5,000 metres—nearly five times the height of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world. It is one of the deepest and most treacherous canyons on the planet, where the river transforms into a roaring beast, its waters churning with an unstoppable force. This is where China wants to step in. The steep gradient at the Great Bend holds unparalleled hydroelectric potential that Beijing is determined to exploit. The plan? A colossal hydropower project embedded deep into the unforgiving terrain of Medog County, Tibet—one of the last unexplored and most geologically unstable regions on Earth. It is a project of staggering proportions, a testament to human ambition and engineering audacity.