Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said “blood and water” cannot flow together as he reviewed the Indus Water Treaty.
The treaty was signed in 1960 after nearly a decade-long round of negotiations.
First review meeting
“This was the first review meeting at the level of the Prime Minister. And he believes blood and water cannot flow together. India is now ready to fully use the potential of the Treaty,” said a senior official requesting anonymity.
Time for relook
India believes Pakistan cannot be allowed to enjoy the treaty in the event of “sustained terrorist attacks” hence the government believed that this was the “appropriate time to look at the arrangements”, the official said.
Under the treaty both countries have designated Indus water commissioners. As a result, they were meeting regularly under the Permanent Indus Commission. So far there have been 112 meetings. The last round of talks took place six months back.
However, India said the commission can now only meet only when the atmosphere is “free of terror”. India is now also eyeing building run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects. As a result, India is now planning to review the Tulbul navigation project built on the River Jhelum.
The government has also decided to set up an Inter ministerial task force to tap the full potential of Western rivers, a large portion of which flows to Pakistan.
This is because India has exhausted the usage of the Eastern rivers.
“Farmers of Jammu & Kashmir should have maximum usage of the western rivers for irrigation... India has not been using the western rivers optimally,” the official said.
Storage capacity
India is also looking at various options of storage while tapping on the western rivers.
“We are now it looking at exploiting the storage capacity by expanding it for the benefit of Jammu and Kashmir,” the official said.