New Delhi: India has decided to block the flow of its share of water from the Indus rivers into Pakistan, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari tweeted on Thursday, days after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 soldiers were killed in Kashmir by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.
“Our government has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab,” Nitin Gadkari said in a series of tweets.
He said the waters of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers would be diverted and supplied to Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty, waters flowing in three of Indus tributaries – the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi – have been allotted to India; while the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus waters have been allotted to Pakistan.
Of the total 168 million acre-feet, India’s share of water from the three allotted rivers is 33 million acre-feet, which constitutes nearly 20 per cent. India uses nearly 93-94 per cent of its share under the Indus Waters Treaty. The rest of the water remains unutilised and goes to Pakistan.
After the Uri attack in 2016, it was decided to fast track water projects to arrest the unutilised water. The three projects include the Shahpur Kandi dam project, a second Sutlej-Beas link in Punjab and the Ujh Dam project in Jammu and Kashmir. Gadkari was referring to those projects on Thursday.
This comes in a series of steps taken by the government after the attack on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
Just after the attack, the government scrapped Most Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan and declared that it would make every effort to ensure the country’s isolation globally.
