Chenab flows again as PM Modi says water strategy in Bharat’s interests
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday delivered a firm message to Pakistan saying Indian waters will henceforth flow and halt only in India’s interests.
Hours after the release of nearly 28,000 cusecs of water into the Chenab which was running dry just about a day ago, flashflood alerts were issued in parts of Pakistan’s Punjab province, including Sialkot, Gujrat and Qadirabad.
Just over 24 hours ago, after India closed the gates of the Salal and Baglihar dam projects on the Chenab at Reasi and Ramban, respectively, the riverbed looked fit for locals to walk around. Today, however, the images had reversed with huge volumes flowing into the Chenab, one of the three western rivers besides Indus and Jhelum that were allocated to Pakistan as part of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
As extra water release led to flashflood warnings downstream in Pakistan, PM Modi, addressing an event in Delhi, said for decades Indian river waters remained matters of dispute.
“We have now worked with states to inter-link rivers to benefit lakhs of farmers. Also, these days water has become a subject of intense interest in the media. Earlier, Indian waters were flowing outside India and against Indian interests. But now, India’s waters will flow in India’s interests, Indian waters will halt in Indian interests and will only be used for India… Bharat ke haq kaa paani Bharat ke haq mein bahega," said the PM.
Earlier today, a high-level government meeting was held and a decision was taken to advance the completion timelines for major stalled hydro-power projects on the Indus and its tributaries.
The projects set to be advanced include 1856-MW Sawalkot hydroelectric power project; 1320-MW Kirthai I and II projects; 800-MW Bursar power project; 850-MW Ratle and 624-MW Kiru project.
Once commissioned, these projects would yield extra power for Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana.
The developments — revival of the stalled projects on the Indus; unilateral control of Indus water flow to downstream Pakistan — have become possible with India placing the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance on April 23 as a major retaliatory move after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 persons were singled out on the basis of their faith and massacred.
With India no longer obliged to inform Pakistan of water flow updates, it can release more water in monsoons and less water in summers, hurting Pakistan’s predominantly agricultural economy and cropping patterns.
Water Resources Minister CR Paatil again said today that not a drop of Indian river waters would go to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, sources at the Baglihar and Salal projects said the flow increased in the Chenab as water was released in tunnels for generation of electricity. One gate of the reservoir of the Salal dam was kept open on Tuesday to avoid any structural damage due to the accumulation of water, added the sources.
The volume of Chenab water flowing from India into Pakistan has reduced to less than 20 per cent over the past couple of days. From a peak of 66,548 cusecs on May 3, the upstream discharge at the Marala headworks in Pakistan had come down to 19,966 cusecs on May 6, according to the data released by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA), the Pakistani agency responsible for regulating waters of the three western rivers.
The IRSA data showed that the upstream discharge was 35,635 cusecs on May 4 and 11,423 cusecs on May 5. The downstream discharge, which was 55,148 cusecs on May 3, reduced to 26,123 cusecs on May 4, 3,761 cusecs on May 5 and 7,709 cusecs on May 6.
(With inputs from Arjun Sharma and Vijay Mohan)
India