Govt won’t restore IWT; plans Tulbul, 6 other projects on western Indus rivers

India is not afraid of Pakistan’s empty threats on the abeyance of the Indus Waters Treaty and the pact will not be restored, the government said on Thursday.

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Reacting to the former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto’s threats of war if India refused to renegotiate IWT abeyance, Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil said, “Water will not go anywhere. The treaty will not be renegotiated. What Bhutto says is up to him.”

He added India would benefit hugely from plans underway to utilise excess waters from the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — which was previously allocated to Pakistan under the treaty.

He acknowledged that the Indian government had received several requests from Pakistan (at least four) to re-consider the suspension of the treaty. “Writing letters is natural, but letters will not determine outcomes. Home Minister Amit Shah has already clarified that the treaty will never be restored,” said Paatil.

He said India was working to utilise the waters of the western tributaries of the Indus but it was not in the national interest to divulge specific details of the project right now.

The Tribune has learnt that the Centre was moving ahead with five projects on the western rivers, which were previously stalled due to the IWT.

These include the Tulbul Navigation Project, which was designed to navigate the Jhelum river during the lean winter months. J&K CM Omar Abdullah has called for the revival of this project.

The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is working on a detailed project report for the Tulbul plan. Official sources said the DPR would take a year, after which the Centre will decide whether to go ahead with the revival of the project. The Kishanganga hydroelectric power project diverts water from the Kishanganga river to a power plant in the Jhelum river basin, is complete, said sources.

The government is speeding up the construction of the Ratle hydroelectric power project on Chenab. This project is designed as a run-of-river scheme with an installed capacity of 850 MW.

When asked if the western rivers could be diverted to Punjab and Haryana, top sources said it was technically feasible with at least one river. Plans are afoot to look at the feasibility of a canal to link the Chenab with the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej system, said sources, adding that the Power Ministry had bid for four of the projects on the western rivers.

A source said, “Abeyance of the IWT means the processes of the treaty have been held in abeyance. So we can manage our dams flushing better. Recently, waters to Pakistan stopped because we had stopped the water flow for flushing operations but overall we have limited water holding capacity for 24, 36 or 48 hours, beyond which the water has to flow to Pakistan, lest we want flooding in our own territory,” said a senior official.

“After the abeyance of the IWT, projects on the western rivers can be executed faster. We can now seek a greater share of the Indus waters from these and will try to find technical feasibility to do so,” said a top official source.