Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said the Jammu and Kashmir government has taken up with the Central government the construction of two major projects on the rivers Jhelum and Chenab, following the scrapping of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan. He said the projects would help boost power generation in the Valley and address long-term water shortages in the Jammu region.
Speaking at a programme in Amritsar district of Punjab, the Chief Minister said Jammu and Kashmir had suffered losses under the IWT, while Punjab enjoyed full rights over its three rivers. “We had opposed the treaty from the beginning. It is good that the IWT has been scrapped and we hope concrete steps will now be taken so that we can fully utilise the water of our rivers,” he said.
Omar said two projects have been submitted to the Centre. One involves the Tulbul Navigation Barrage near Sopore on the Jhelum, which would raise water levels in the Wular Lake and the river, enhance power generation, and facilitate navigation. The second project aims to channel water from the Chenab at Akhnoor to Jammu, which, he said, could overcome water shortages in the region for the next 20 to 30 years.
He added that discussions with the Centre are ongoing and expressed hope that work on both projects would be expedited. The Chief Minister also said that several power projects had accumulated silt that could not be cleared earlier due to treaty restrictions, but the scrapping of the IWT would now allow desilting.
India scrapped the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan in April last year following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, in which 26 civilians, including 25 tourists and a local guide, were killed. Under the treaty, India had rights over three rivers flowing through Punjab, while the remaining rivers in Jammu and Kashmir were allocated to Pakistan.
Touching on tourism, Omar said the sector has started picking up after recent snowfall, but added that he would refrain from citing figures, noting that visitors often become targets when numbers are highlighted.
