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India to Speed up Hydropower Building on Rivers Flowing into Pakistan - Source
NEW DELHI
India will accelerate its building of new hydropower plants along three rivers that flow into Pakistan, a source familiar with the plan said on Monday, in a move likely to aggravate already tense relations with its neighbour a week after an attack on an Indian army base.
Disagreements over how to share the waters of the Indus and other rivers have dogged relations between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals since independence in 1947.
The dispute looks set to be reignited after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told officials on Monday that India should use more of the rivers' resources, speaking a week after the Sept. 18 attack on an army base in the disputed region of Kashmir that New Delhi blames on Pakistan, a source with knowledge of the meeting attended by Modi said.
India has vowed to respond to the raid, in which at least 18 of its soldiers were killed, but any military option risks escalation. Some officials have called for a renewed diplomatic offensive instead.
Modi said on Saturday that India would mount a global campaign to isolate Pakistan, including through the United Nations, where Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke on Monday.
India has long accused Pakistan of backing militant groups operating in the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir, through which several of the countries' shared rivers flow.
Pakistan denies the allegations and says India has not provided adequate proof to support its claims. A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Modi's hydropower plans.
At Monday's meeting, Modi and officials discussed ways to increase exploitation of the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers but said they would not violate a long-standing water treaty between the countries in the process.
"We want to see that all these (hydropower) projects are put on a really fast-track basis," the source told Reuters, speaking on the condition he was not named because of the sensitivity of the meeting.
"Our entire approach was done to create an atmosphere of goodwill. But in this atmosphere, we want to exploit all our rights under the (Indus Water) treaty," the source said.
The Indus Water Treaty was signed in 1960 in a bid to resolve disputes, but India's ambitious irrigation plans and construction of thousands of upstream dams has continued to annoy Pakistan, which depends on snow-fed Himalayan rivers for everything from drinking water to agriculture.
India says its use of upstream water is strictly in line with the 1960 agreement.
The potential for a military conflict between India and Pakistan over water has long worried observers. The neighbours have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.
India currently generates about 3,000 megawatts of energy from hydropower plants along rivers in its portion of Kashmir, but believes the region has the potential to produce 18,000 megawatts, the source said.
New Delhi will also review whether to restart construction of the Tulbul navigation project, which was suspended several years ago. The project proposes diverting water from one of the shared rivers to a city in Indian-administered Kashmir that could impact flows downstream, the source said.
There has been an ongoing dispute between India and Pakistan over the Tulbul Project since 1987, when Pakistan objected that it violated the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. India stopped work on the project that year, but has since pressed to restart construction. The Jhelum River through the Kashmir valley below Wular Lake provides an important means of transport for goods and people. To sustain navigation throughout the year a minimum depth of water is needed. India contends that this makes development of the Tulbul Project permissible under the treaty, while Pakistan maintains that the project is a violation of the treaty. India says suspension of work is harming the interests of people of Jammu and Kashmir and also depriving the people of Pakistan of irrigation and power benefits that may accrue from regulated water releases.
A spokesman for Modi's office declined to comment
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(Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Hugh Lawson
http://in.reuters.com/article/india-pakistan-water-idINKCN11W1utm_medium=referral&utm_source=morefromreuters
India to Speed up Hydropower Building on Rivers Flowing into Pakistan - Source
NEW DELHI
India will accelerate its building of new hydropower plants along three rivers that flow into Pakistan, a source familiar with the plan said on Monday, in a move likely to aggravate already tense relations with its neighbour a week after an attack on an Indian army base.
Disagreements over how to share the waters of the Indus and other rivers have dogged relations between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals since independence in 1947.
The dispute looks set to be reignited after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told officials on Monday that India should use more of the rivers' resources, speaking a week after the Sept. 18 attack on an army base in the disputed region of Kashmir that New Delhi blames on Pakistan, a source with knowledge of the meeting attended by Modi said.
India has vowed to respond to the raid, in which at least 18 of its soldiers were killed, but any military option risks escalation. Some officials have called for a renewed diplomatic offensive instead.
Modi said on Saturday that India would mount a global campaign to isolate Pakistan, including through the United Nations, where Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke on Monday.
India has long accused Pakistan of backing militant groups operating in the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir, through which several of the countries' shared rivers flow.
Pakistan denies the allegations and says India has not provided adequate proof to support its claims. A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Modi's hydropower plans.
At Monday's meeting, Modi and officials discussed ways to increase exploitation of the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers but said they would not violate a long-standing water treaty between the countries in the process.
"We want to see that all these (hydropower) projects are put on a really fast-track basis," the source told Reuters, speaking on the condition he was not named because of the sensitivity of the meeting.
"Our entire approach was done to create an atmosphere of goodwill. But in this atmosphere, we want to exploit all our rights under the (Indus Water) treaty," the source said.
The Indus Water Treaty was signed in 1960 in a bid to resolve disputes, but India's ambitious irrigation plans and construction of thousands of upstream dams has continued to annoy Pakistan, which depends on snow-fed Himalayan rivers for everything from drinking water to agriculture.
India says its use of upstream water is strictly in line with the 1960 agreement.
The potential for a military conflict between India and Pakistan over water has long worried observers. The neighbours have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.
India currently generates about 3,000 megawatts of energy from hydropower plants along rivers in its portion of Kashmir, but believes the region has the potential to produce 18,000 megawatts, the source said.
New Delhi will also review whether to restart construction of the Tulbul navigation project, which was suspended several years ago. The project proposes diverting water from one of the shared rivers to a city in Indian-administered Kashmir that could impact flows downstream, the source said.
Tulbul Project[edit]
The Tulbul Project is a "navigation lock-cum-control structure" at the mouth of Wular Lake. According to the original Indian plan, the barrage was expected to be of 439 feet (134 m) long and 40 feet (12 m) wide, and would have a maximum storage capacity of 300,000 acre feet (370,000,000 m3) of water. One aim was to regulate the release of water from the natural storage in the lake to maintain a minimum draught of 4.5 feet (1.4 m) in the river up to Baramulla during the lean winter months. The project was conceived in the early 1980s and work began in 1984.There has been an ongoing dispute between India and Pakistan over the Tulbul Project since 1987, when Pakistan objected that it violated the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. India stopped work on the project that year, but has since pressed to restart construction. The Jhelum River through the Kashmir valley below Wular Lake provides an important means of transport for goods and people. To sustain navigation throughout the year a minimum depth of water is needed. India contends that this makes development of the Tulbul Project permissible under the treaty, while Pakistan maintains that the project is a violation of the treaty. India says suspension of work is harming the interests of people of Jammu and Kashmir and also depriving the people of Pakistan of irrigation and power benefits that may accrue from regulated water releases.
A spokesman for Modi's office declined to comment
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(Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Hugh Lawson
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The Tulbul project is a "navigation lock-cum-control structure" at the mouth of the Wullar Lake. It envisages regulated water release from the natural storage in the lake to maintain a minimum draught of 4.5 feet in the river up to Baramulla, during the lean winter months. This is to ensure year-round navigation from Anantnag to Srinagar and Baramulla, a distance of over 20 km
The 74 Sq. Km. Wullar Lake (original size 202 Sq. Kms.) is the largest freshwater lake in India, and is situated on the Jhelum; it provides an important means for the transportation of goods and movement of people of Jammu & Kashmir. To sustain navigation throughout the year it is necessary to maintain a minimum depth of water. However, the stretch of 22 km between Sopore and Baramulla becomes non-navigable during the lean winter season with a water depth of only 2.5 ft. For improving navigation, India had started constructing a 439 feet long barrage at the mouth of the lake to ensure the flow of water in winter to 4000 cusecs, with a depth of 4 feet and added storage of 0.3 MAF. Pakistan objected to this project and the construction was halted in 1987. Pakistani apprehensions were based on the following reasons:
(1) A barrage may damage Pakistan's own triple-canal project linking Jhelum and Chenab with the Upper Bari Doab Canal;
2) A barrage would be a security risk enabling the Indian Army to make crossing the river either easy or difficult, at will, by the controlled release of water;
(3) After constructing the dam, India would control the flow of water into the Jhelum, creating drought and flood situations at will in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan; and
(4) It would ruin Pakistan's agriculture
2) A barrage would be a security risk enabling the Indian Army to make crossing the river either easy or difficult, at will, by the controlled release of water;
(3) After constructing the dam, India would control the flow of water into the Jhelum, creating drought and flood situations at will in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan; and
(4) It would ruin Pakistan's agriculture
According to the Indian government, the project is designed to be a control structure aimed at improving navigation in the Jhelum during winter to connect Srinagar with Baramula for transporting fruits and timber. India has underlined that the barrage would not reduce the quantum of water flow, and that it would also be beneficial to Pakistan for regulating water flow to the Mangla Dam by controlling floods. It would also improve Pakistan's Triple-canal irrigation system as well as increase Pakistan's capacity for power generation at Mangla. However, the Wullar barrage is not a storage project but a control project allowed under the treaty. Moreover, the suspension of work is harming the interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and depriving people in Pakistan of irrigation and power benefits that may accrue from the regulated release of water.
Although the Indus Treaty is an excellent example of settling riparian disputes as well as one of the few examples of successful settlement in major international river basin conflicts, there are differences between India and Pakistan over new projects. Pakistan has charged India with violating the Indus Water Treaty though India has denied these charges. The Indus Water Treaty which was signed on September 19, 1960, divided the six rivers of Punjab between India and Pakistan. India got unrestricted use of the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej, and Pakistan got the three western rivers of Chenab, Indus and Jhelum. The Treaty also allows either country to have restricted access for domestic and agricultural use, generation of hydroelectric power through a "run-of-the-river" project, and non-consumptive use including navigation - provided the same quantum of water is returned to the river. The Indian projects promote the process of development without violating the treaty, Tulbul and Baglihar being pertinent examples.
With the emergence of a broader framework for regional economic cooperation and accelerated engagement, India and Pakistan will have to find ways to move forward on such key issues. India and Pakistan must "hinder the hindrances" and come together on such developmental projects in the larger interest of the people of both countries
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