India suspended talks on Indus water pact
The
Union government has decided to set up an inter-ministerial committee to study
India’s further options on the Indus Waters Treaty. The decision came during
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting to review the treaty following the
terror attack in Uri.
Among the committee’s tasks would be to look into storage possibilities
that would help irrigate fields in Jammu and Kashmir, where the State Assembly
has often complained about the treaty being “unfair”.
Source:The Hindu
Highlights of the meeting:
- India has access to the use of three “eastern”
rivers of the Indus — the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi, while it is allowed
limited use of about 20 per cent of the three ‘western’ rivers — the Indus
(Sindhu), Chenab and Jhelum.
- The government decided to suspend talks on the
Permanent Indus Commission, the dispute redressal mechanism that has met
112 times, until “terror comes to an end.” According to Article VIII of
the Indus Waters Treaty, the Commission must meet once a year, alternately
in India and Pakistan. The last meeting was held in July 2016.
- The government also decided to build more
run-of-the-river hydropower projects on western rivers, to exploit the
full potential of 18,600 MW (current projects come to 11,406 MW) and to
expedite the construction of the Pakal Dul, Sawalkot, Bursar dams in Jammu
and Kashmir, official sources said.
- A decision was taken to review restarting the Tulbul navigation project that India had suspended after Pakistan’s objections in 1987.
