Centre Plans To Utilise Indus Waters, Plans Public Outreach: Sources

In a strategic move, the central government will launch a public outreach program to explain to citizens the motive behind putting the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan in abeyance, sources said. The initiative aims to increase public awareness of how the suspension of the decades-old agreement benefits India.

The outreach program will be spearheaded by union ministers who will explain the strategic moves on the Indus Water Treaty in simple terms to the people, especially those living in North Indian states.

According to sources, the larger objective of the initiative is to develop a long-term water management strategy that will allow India to make better use of the Indus River waters within the states. The government is also planning to facilitate the movement of the Indus River waters from Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The 13 existing canal systems of the four states have been connected, which will not only increase the availability of water in the areas, but India will also be able to use the surplus water for itself, sources added.

The strategic developments include building a 160-kilometre canal to connect the Chenab River to the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej River systems. The Centre is also planning to connect the Indus River waters to the Ganga Canal in Rajasthan - and set a target for it to be completed in three years.

The Indus River system

The Indus basin is fed mainly by the Ravi, the Jhelum, and the Indus itself, all three of which were allotted to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty but flow through India before crossing over. The agreement gives India rights over the eastern rivers - the Sutlej, Beas, and Chenab.

While India would get water from the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi, Pakistan would get the water from the Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus. India, being the upper riparian state, technically has rights to the waters of all six rivers, but the agreement allowed Pakistan to get the flow of waters of the 'western rivers'.

The Indus Water Treaty - signed in 1960 - had survived through three wars fought by India and Pakistan in 1965, 1971, and 1999. But after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed, India took stern diplomatic measures, including putting the treaty into abeyance.

By doing this, India has been able to control, to some extent, the western rivers and flow of water to Pakistan.

PM Modi on suspending Indus Waters Treaty

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month said that "water and blood cannot flow together".

"Terror and talk cannot take place together. Terror and trade cannot take place together. And, water and blood also cannot flow together," he said - referring to a clear message to Pakistan that while India may have agreed to a ceasefire, it has no plans to lift the hold on the Indus Waters Treaty.

India on May 7 conducted 'Operation Sindoor', a targeted military strike on terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK), after finding cross-border to the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan then launched a massive missile and drone attack, but the threats were thwarted. In retaliation, Indian armed forces struck airfields in Pakistan. Both countries agreed to a ceasefire on May 10.