The mala fide intentions of China have again surfaced and this time with evidence of satellite images too.
The latest satellite images reflect how China has been deflected the claims of India of diverting and polluting water of river Siang in Arunachal Pradesh. Speaking exclusively to India Today, Group Satellite Imagery Expert Colonel Vinayak Bhat (Retd.) confirmed the same, "China has stopped the water of Brahmaputra completely. At a place 60 km away into the territory, that is where they have constructed their dam of almost 200 m wide and the blockage is almost 900 m in length along the river, the entire water force has been channeled under the mountain through two tunnels which are almost 50 m wide and the entire river has been diverted through the mountains and it comes out almost 900 m on the north of that particular point," he said
"This means they are trying to do something with the entire river water of Brahmaputra which will affect the entire Indian agriculture tomorrow. Because if they are planning to divert this water which seems to be the case, this is going to harm the amount of water coming into India," added Bhat.
He adds, "What is happening today is that they are using polymer resin adhesives, which are used generally in big projects for dust suppressants, on this particular project. It's flowing along the water and whatever earth excavation they are doing in the tunnels, is probably being thrown into the water to evade the activity."
The entire life and livelihood in the region has been affected and many animals and birds have died too.
But now, even the water does not remain potable for the human beings.
He said, "It will affect the animals and the humans. At least, humans can see and understand, but the animals down below, they will not even understand what they are drinking. They cannot make out the difference. And if they drink, the fishes, everything; all the animals down below and obviously the agriculture is going to be affected in India."
What is shocking is that it did not happen overnight. In fact it was being done under cover and camouflage by the Dragon and now the impact is humongous. "Probably they have taken about a year or so to construct this particular dam because earlier the satellite images have not shown this area. But then this time, it is very clearly visible in October to December images, that they have stopped the entire river flow of Brahmaputra which is called Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet. It is a trans-boundary river and it is illegal to stop it completely like this," justified Colonel Vinayak Bhat.
China has now resorted to increasing the troops in Doklam also which has been proven through the satellite images. He said, "Well on their side, it has changed quite a bit since June 16, 2017. They have in fact increased the force level. As my report suggests that they have brought in almost division worth of forces, including two mechanized units. That is a huge amount of force to be placed just below Doklam. It is only 5 to 10 km where you can see almost five thousand strong troops and three hundred odd vehicles which are all open for the satellite imagery. The satellite imagery of December 3 and December 10 is very very clear that they are trying to build up for some particular purpose which we don't know. The gradient on Indian side is very very steep and on Chinese side it is slightly more sloping. So that is why for India it is important to take action right now."
Worried about how soon the diplomacy turns into some action on ground, as a satellite imagery expert Bhat is concerned and expects that immediate steps are taken before it is too late.
"India should go into the international forums as much as possible and inform people and bring down pressure on China in some other ways. We have so many things that they are trying to pressurize us only for 300 to 400 m in Doklam area, where we can tell China and try to do some kind of diplomatic maneuver. That's what we must do. Indian government is saying that it's their territory and we really can't do anything about the build up. But then this is too close for comfort. It is very very serious. Tomorrow after the winters finish, we might have a situation which we'll not be able to handle," Bhat expresses.