Govt calls key meet today to assess ground implementation of Indus Water Treaty suspension
A day after India announced suspension of the Indus Water Treaty 1960 in retaliation of the April 22 Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Pahalgam, the government has called a key meeting this evening to assess challenges in the implementation of this major decision.
The move means halting the flow of waters from the Indus river and its three western tributaries—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab—allocated to Pakistan under the Treaty, while India has full rights over three eastern rivers— the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.
Minister of Jal Shakti CR Paatil will chair the key meeting to decide how to halt the flow of water from western rivers to Pakistan. Data show 80% of Pakistan’s irrigation needs for agriculture are met through the three western rivers. In economic terms, these waters contribute 21% of the Pakistan GDP and support nearly 45% of its workforce.
Government estimates suggest the suspension of the Treaty could mean blocking the flow of western rivers which make up more than 80% (117 billion cubic metre) of the entire flow of the Indus basin.
But this may not be as easy as it looks.
Experts say there are two ways of halting this water—either storing it or diverting the flow of the rivers, both being challenging.
An ORF paper on the feasibility of halting the flow of western river waters to Pakistan says the volume of water these tributaries contribute—117 BCM is enough to inundate the whole of Kashmir Valley to a height of seven metres every year.
”In reservoir volume terms every year we will need 30 storages the size of Tehri to store this entire volume of 117 BCM. For that we will need large land masses for storage and these may not be easy to find,” the assessment says.
On river diversion the ORF paper notes that diverting the flow of just one of the three rivers would involve construction of a man-made river over hundreds of kilometres and would pose enormous challenges in design, construction and maintenance.
”Any such proposal would require investment of lakhs of crores of rupees, acquisition of thousands of hectares of land and would take decades to complete. In either the storage or the diversion proposal, Pakistan will not feel any impact of either for at least next 30 to 50 years. Needles to mention, the environmental impact of either of the above two options would be catastrophic,” it adds.
The 4 pm meeting today will assess these challenges and devise the way forward to implement the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty on the ground.
J & K