China to provide flood data of Sutlej river to India

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) China will provide India with
real time flood data of Sutlej river during monsoon, according
to an agreement signed between the two countries.
Under the five year agreement, China will set up a
special station in Tibet to monitor rainfall and flood
situation to enable India get advanced warnings.
In turn, India will pay Rs 12 lakh per annum to China.
The money will be used by Beijing to maintain the station,
sources in the government told PTI here.
The flood data will be provided twice daily between
June and October every year.
"Since we have five to six hydro electric power
projects on downstream Sutlej, the data will help us operate
the projects in a safer environment," sources said.
Floods in downstream Sutlej have been creating
problems on the Indian side.
In July this year, India had renewed a similar
agreement with China to get flood data of Brahmaputra river.
The agreement for Brahmaputra was signed in 2004.
Though China had been providing flood data of Sutlej,
the agreement will help streamline the system, especially
during the monsoon season. New Delhi had been paying Rs 12
lakh per annum to China for data of Brahmaputra.
India provides similar flood warnings to Pakistan and
Bangladesh free of cost as a goodwill gesture.
Sutlej is the easternmost tributary of the Indus
River. Its source is near Lake Rakshastal in Tibet near Mount
Kailash, and flows generally west and southwest entering India
through the Shipki La pass in Himachal Pradesh. PTI