China is building a dam few km from India border on tributary of river Ganga, claims researcher

Satellite images show that China is constructing a new dam on the Mabja Zangbo river, geospatial intelligence researcher Damien Symon has claimed. The dam will be sitting just a few kilometres north of the Indian-Nepali-Chinese border trijunction, he said. Satellite images show work is being done on the Mabja Zangbo river in Tibet's Burang County since 2021. While the construction of the dam is not complete, it does pose questions regarding China's hegemony on water supplies downstream in the future.

“Since early 2021, China has been constructing a dam on the Mabja Zangbo river just a few kilometers north of the trijunction border with India & Nepal, while the structure isn't complete, the project will raise concerns regarding China's future control on water in the region,” Symon tweeted and added that that an airport is also being constructed nearby.

The Mabja Zangbo river flows downstream into the Ghaghara or Karnali river before eventually meeting the Ganges in India. Mabja Zangbo originates from Mount Kailash, but is not a major tributary of the critically important water of the Karnali. The Karnali river is the second biggest tributary by length of the Ganges, after River Yamuna, and the biggest tributary of the Ganges by volume. The river flows past cities like Ayodhya and Faizabad, where it is known as the legendary Sarayu River, Bahraich, Barabanki, Basti, Deoria, Barhalganj, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Sitapur, Siddharthnagar, Saint Kabir Nagar, Kamhariya, Rajesultanpur and Tanda in Uttar Pradesh among other settlements in Bihar.