The process of filling up Shahpur Kandi dam near Madhopur headworks on Ravi river is a hugely positive development. It will be able to stop some water flows which were going to Pakistan territory in an unimpeded manner so far. The total flows from Ravi which were reaching Pakistan in this manner was over 2 MAF (Million Acre Feet) per annum. The dam will be able to stop approximately one-third flows only as more projects need to be built to stop the water flow into Pakistan altogether.
The bounty of water flows from the Indian side to Pakistan territory benefits Narowal and Lahore in a big way. Incidentally, Narowal and contiguous areas located to the south of International Border (IB) in J&K along NH44 have been major launch pads for sending terrorists into India for over three decades.
In September 2016, after the Uri terrorist attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had for the first time talked that “blood and water can’t flow together”.
THE INDUS WATERS TREATY
What changes can be brought without violating provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in this area? Well, India has rights to harness streams like Tarnah, Bein and Ujh specifically mentioned in IWT. However, nothing has been done to tap them so far.
In February 2019, after the Pulwama attack of February 14, India had talked of utilising its entire share of water from Eastern Rivers. On February 22, 2019, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation issued a press release through the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on “Indus Waters Treaty 1960: Present Status of Development in India”. It said that India was utilising about 95 per cent of its share of waters in the Eastern Rivers and wanted to enhance this usage to almost 100 per cent. For doing so, to stop the flow of these waters to Pakistan “that belong to India for utilisation in India”, three projects were announced.
SHAHPUR KANDI PROJECT
At number 1 was listed the project for “Resumption of Construction of Shahpurkandi project”. This project had got stalled due to a dispute between Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir on the issue of share of costs in September 2014. However, Nitin Gadkari intervened between the two neighbours and resolved the issue in September 2018. At that time, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation was headed by Gadkari.
The project was given a Central Assistance of Rs 485.38 crore in December 2018 for completion of “balance works of irrigation component”. The Shahpur Kandi barrage/dam is on the verge of completion now and the filling of the dam is expected to take a few months. It will lead to irrigation of an additional 37,000 hectares of land in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
Besides additional irrigation facilities, the Shahpur Kandi project will also lead to production of 206 MW of electricity. Overall, the benefits – to farmers and through power generation – are estimated to be in the range of Rs 850 crore annually. This project had been languishing for over 40 years since 1979.
The Shahpur Kandi barrage project is located downstream of Ranjit Sagar dam built on Ravi which produces 600 MW of power every year. At least 85 per cent of submergence area of the lake needed to run the power project belongs to J&K, five per cent to Himachal Pradesh and 10 per cent to Punjab.
UJH MULTIPURPOSE PROJECTS
On February 22, 2019, two more projects, besides the resumption of stalled Shahpur Kandi project were announced. These projects were 2. Construction of Ujh multipurpose project and 3. The 2nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh. The second project, which envisaged “Construction of Ujh Multipurpose Project”, would have led to storage of 781 MCM (Million Cubic Metre) of water. This would have also created irrigation facilities for 31,380 hectares in Kathua, Hiranagar, Samba and Vijaypur tehsils of J&K, apart from providing water for Kathua district. This project was then technically approved for a total estimated cost of Rs 5,850 crore (July 2017).
This project was called a National Project and the Central Assistance of Rs. 4892.47 crore on works portion of irrigation component as well as the special grant was said to be “under consideration” then in February 2019. The implementation of the project was to take six years from beginning of the implementation.
The project site was to be north of NH44 near Rajbagh town of Kathua district but the project has not started. In fact, at one time several mandatory public hearings and official meetings were. The tentative date for inauguration of the project was set for July 2020. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 derailed the timelines, schedules and allocation of money for this project, according to many officials who worked with the project once.
In May 2022, MoS in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh held a meeting with Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. At this meeting, the estimated cost of the Ujh dam project in January 2022 was put at Rs 11,907.77 crore.
However, this project has not started as yet and as such, substantial amounts of waters, allotted to India under IWT 1960, will continue to flow unimpeded to Pakistan.
THIRD PROJECT
Apart from Shahpur Kandi and Ujh Multipurpose dams, the third project was to be the 2nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh. According to the government, even after completion of the Ujh Multipurpose project, at least .58 MAF of surplus water would have been available to Pakistan. This project envisaged diverting the same to Beas basin for the benefit of other co-basin states. The Government of India had declared this project also as a National Project.
In the absence of Ujh Multipurpose project, the question of taking up the 2nd Ravi Beas link does not arise. As such, this project is also on paper till now.
Some officials, who requested anonymity, shared some estimates about the bounty of water India has bestowed on Pakistan by not utilising its share fully. They said that if the cost of 1 MAF of water is calculated as $1 billion, we have gifted over $128 billion to Pakistan so far. Incidentally, they based this calculation on an annual flow of 2 MAF into Pakistan over the last 64 years, since 1960 IWT.
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