"There is an abnormal change of water in the Brahmaputra during the last one month, and poisonous, muddy, turbid water is flowing in this river. As a result, a lot of wild animals, aquatic life and have fish died," he apprised the Rajya Sabha.

 

China denied, and strongly reacted to the allegations. Hua, the FM spokesperson told reporters, a preliminary investigation carried out by the relevant Chinese department shows that the river pollution was caused by natural factors in the far-flung, uninhabited areas near the disputed region along the east section of the China-India borderline, rather than man-made incidents.

 

"We noted that the specialized department on the Indian side also analyzed and clarified the situation. We hope that the Indian media do not make these speculations before getting the facts straight," she said.

 

Chintan Sheth from India's National Centre for Biological Sciences and Anirban Datta-Roy, a doctoral student who studied satellites images to find the source of Siang River's pollution concluded, "Our analysis revealed that the origin of the sediments is from Gyala Peri landslides. We do not have any evidence of the Chinese diverting water."

 

Siang River originates from southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region glacier where it is known as Yarlung Zangbo. The river travels for nearly 2,000 km within China before entering India. The river then merges with the Dibang and Lohit rivers in Assam to become the mighty Brahmaputra River and also flows into Bangladesh.

 

Parag Jyoti Saikia, a faculty at Asia University for Women in Bangladesh who has earlier worked with South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) warned heavy sediment load in Siang River will have a far-reaching impact and needs a careful study.

 

"Not only Indian states but also Bangladesh is likely to suffer from Siang's pollution. Both sides need to conduct scientific studies to ascertain the impact of pollution and threat," Saikia told CGTN.