China has not shared hydrological data this year: MEA

Even as Assam and Bihar are reeling under floods, a senior official said on Friday that China has not shared any hydrological data this year on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers as is the practice.

"As far as I know, this year we have not received any data from China from May 15 till now," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in the weekly media briefing here.

Scores of people have lost their lives as floods devastated Assam and Bihar and lakhs of hectares of land are inundated under water in both the states.

India and China have an existing mechanism called India-China Expert Level Mechanism that was established in 2006 and Kumar said its last meeting was held last year.

"Two MoUs (memorandums of understanding) were signed - one in 2013 and the other in 2015 - according to which China has to share hydrological data on Sutlej and Brahmaputra rivers," he stated.

The sharing of data is done in the monsoon months between May 15 and October 15 every year.

Asked if China not sharing this data can be linked to the current stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops along the Sikkim sector of the international border, the spokesperson said that it would be "premature" to do so.

--IANS

ab/rn