India Plans to Fully Exploit Indus Basin Rivers' Potential

Govt aims to address Delhi's water shortage, and Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan's irrigation needs

- Vijay C Roy & Rituraj Baruah

The Union water ministry is considering roping in state-run hydroelectric power generators NHPC Ltd and SJVN Ltd for developing dams and reservoirs connected to an ambitious river-linking project in Jammu and Kashmir, an official aware of the plan said.

The official was one of three Mint spoke to about the government's plan to link the Indus and Chenab rivers in J&K in order to extract more water from the Indus river system, now that India has suspended its participation in the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.

The 1960 water-sharing pact came under strain following the latest armed conflict between India and Pakistan.

India's goal is to address Delhi's water shortage along with meeting the need for irrigation in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan by diverting more water from the Indus basin. This would be done by connecting the proposed Indus-Chenab link to the interconnected Ravi-Beas-Sutlej canal system, the people cited above said.

The project would mainly rest on canals and tunnels linking the Indus with the Chenab in the first instance. This would be followed by linking the Chenab with three rivers—Ravi, Beas and Sutlej—that feed into Punjab.