Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that the J&K government was working with the Centre to revive the Tulbul Navigation Barrage on the Jhelum river which will entail raising the water level in the Wullar lake towards its outfall. Referring to another scheme for providing drinking water supply to the Jammu city, he said water will be diverted from the Chenab river for this purpose and work on this was also on.
Due to constraints put by the Indus Waters Treaty, and Pakistan’s unreasonable behaviour, Tulbul Navigation Barrage which was started in 1984 to regulate the water level in Wullar during lean season, from October to March every year, has remained incomplete till date. A number of times, it was started, then got stalled again as Pakistan upped the ante. In fact, this is a project which Omar’s grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, wanted to be taken up some years after the independence. However, the Central government then headed by Jawaharlal Nehru did not give the go-ahead.
About three decades later, debate started afresh about the need for this project to improve navigation in the Jhelum river. It was then pursued by Dr Farooq Abdullah after he became Chief Minister following his father’s death on September 8, 1982. After becoming CM for the second time in June 1983, he continued pursuing this project with the Centre saying it will benefit the local Kashmiris in a big way.
Tulbul Navigation Project
Raising the water level of the Wullar lake by putting a navigation lock, under the Tulbul Navigation Project, will help make the Jhelum river navigable. Experts believe that raising the level of the Wullar will also help generate more electricity from downstream power projects. They say that the controlled releases from the lake in lean months will help Pakistan also as these waters reach the Mangla dam at a time when the inflows are at the lowest.
Pakistan, which positions itself as a benefactor of Kashmiris, however, put all sorts of impediments in the execution of the navigation project. Pakistan frames India’s Tulbul Navigation Project, which it calls as Wullar Barrage project, a violation of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), as it allows India to store water and control flows. It also argues that the project acts as a storage barrage, violating IWT restrictions on storage of water on the Jhelum Main.
Islamabad says the 439-foot-long navigation structure will allow India to control, reduce, or stop water flows into Pakistan, particularly impacting the winter season (October to March). It claims that the project could affect the flow of the Jhelum, impacting the triple canal project (Upper Jhelum, Upper Chenab, and Lower Bari Doab Canals). Despite over a dozen rounds of talks since the 1980s, Pakistan maintains that the project constitutes a “man-made obstruction” violating the treaty’s provisions.
India, on the other hand, has been consistent in its stand that this is a non-consumptive way and all the stored waters will flow into Pakistan. No part of the stored water will be utilised for any purpose other than navigation which is allowed under the IWT. With IWT in abeyance, the project has been greenlighted by the Centre and can take four working seasons for completion if necessary resources are provided, according to former Indus Commissioner P K Saxena.
Drinking Water Supply
The Chenab water diversion project aims to supply drinking water to Jammu city by lifting water from the Chenab River at Akhnoor, about 30 km away, to address chronic shortages. The project, approved by the Central agencies, involves treating the water and transporting it to Muthi for distribution. This plan helps meet the Jammu city’s growing daily demand, which currently exceeds the capacity of the Tawi river supply.
Tawi, also called Suryaputri, a river that bissets the Jammu city, is the mainstay of drinking water supply for the town. However, with the city expanding at a fast pace, this small tributary of the Chenab river, is unable to cater to the entire demand. As such, the water supply scheme from the Chenab river was conceived and some progress was made on it during CM Omar Abdullah’s last tenure between 2009 and late 2014.
It needs to be mentioned that BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma, elected from Jammu North in 2024 assembly elections, was in the Congress at that time. As MLA elected from Akhnoor town and a senior minister in Omar’s government at that time, Sharma had played a leading role in pushing the Jammu drinking water supply scheme.
This water supply scheme will utilise the Chenab River as source lifting water at the Ranjan lift station in Akhnoor town, about 30 km away from Jammu. This water will then be taken to Muthi on the outskirts of the Jammu city, and this will then become the distribution point, around eight km from city center.
Thirsty Jammu
The projected capacity of this project is approximately 208.2 million liters per day (MLD) in two phases, aiming to satisfy demand until 2046, at least two decades. However, with the IWT in abeyance now, enlarging the project to a large size is also being considered.
It is framed a critical water supply scheme and funding was sought from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at one time. At present, the funding sources and other details are not in the public domain. However, this is one of the most high priority project the state and the Central governments are pursuing in tandem.
His assertion came while making an intervention during the Question Hour in the Legislative Assembly to the supplementaries raised by the BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma and other members to the original question of another BJP MLA from Jammu West, Arvind Gupta about water shortage, long term water security plan for Jammu and restoration of Sitlee-Manda Raising Mains, damaged during floods on August 25, 2025.
Reference was to the Tulbul navigation barrage to regulate Jhelum river water near Sopore in Kashmir and the project related to lifting of Chenab river water from Akhnoor to divert to Jammu city to meet its crucial needs.
CM Omar said: “The process related to both these projects was initiated. The projects were submitted to the Asian Development Bank for funding but they could not get clearance due to constraints imposed by the IWT. But now as the treaty has been put in abeyance, it is hoped that the work on both the projects will move forward.’’
The point being made by Sham Lal Sharma that a plan should be devised to meet the water needs of Jammu for the next 30 to 50 years is valid. “Sham Sharma is right in saying that the short-term measures like reviving defunct tube-wells and other water sources were not enough,’’ the Chief Minister said.
