Nine months after suspending the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) following the Pahalgam attack, the Jammu and Kashmir government is set to resume work on the stalled Wular barrage. The project aims to regulate water storage from the Jhelum River.
Since India no longer considers itself bound by the 1960 agreement, officials state that construction will resume shortly in coordination with the Centre. This move aims to complete a vital infrastructure project that has remained in limbo for four decades."
The resumption of work on the Wular barrage has rekindled hope among local people whose livelihoods depend on Wular. Imtiyaz Ahmad, a fisherman, says he's jobless because large swathes of Wular have dried up due to very low discharge of the Jhelum in winter.
"Our livelihood depends on water in Wular. We lose our livelihood when there is little or no water in Wular. When the government stores water, it will revive the livelihood of fishermen," said Imtiyaz.
The work on the construction of the barrage and embankments was stopped in 2012 after Pakistan-backed terrorists targeted the Wular barrage project and forced workers to abandon the construction.
After the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April, India decided to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty and vowed to stop the water of the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers, the three western rivers of the Indus system, from flowing into Pakistan.
Since then, the plan to resume work on the Wular barrage is the first major step to achieve maximum water usage in Jammu and Kashmir rather than allowing it to flow into Pakistan unhindered.
The Indus Waters Treaty gives overriding rights to Pakistan on the waters of the three rivers- Jehlum, Chenab, and Indus.
With the suspension of the treaty, India is no longer bound by the IWT agreement brokered by the World Bank in 1960. This means dams or barrages can be built on the western river system without any concurrence from Pakistan.
Pakistan has all along opposed the Wular barrage, also known as the Tulbul navigation project, ever since the government started work on the project in 1984. In 1989, the work on the ambitious project was stopped due to the outbreak of militancy and a separatist groundswell.
Work was resumed in 2010 only to be stopped again in 2012 after terrorists targeted the project at Ningli in Sopore.
Depending on the water discharge from the Jhelum, Wular Lake's surface area fluctuates seasonally, expanding from a minimum of 20 sq km to as much as 190 sq km.
The barrage would ensure year-round navigation in the Jhelum and livelihood for local communities around Wular.
In Ningli village, the receding waters of the Wular have left large swathes of the lakebed dry, severely impacting the harvest of water chestnuts and lotus stems.
Traditionally, besides fishing, hundreds of people living around the lake - from Bandipore to Sopore - use boats to navigate and extract water chestnuts and lotus stems. But as a large portion of the lake has shrunk and lost significant depth and capacity to hold water due to siltation, these people have lost their traditional livelihood means.
India wants the barrage because it would make the river navigable year-round. Pakistan has opposed the construction of the Wular barrage, arguing that if India controls the flow of water on the Jhelum, it can potentially cause drought or flooding in Pakistan.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly that the state government is working with the Centre on two projects that could not be taken up or completed due to the Indus Waters Treaty. Besides the Wular barrage, Abdullah said his government will start work on a lift water supply scheme from the Chenab River at Akhnoor to provide drinking water to Jammu city.
"Since the Indus Waters Treaty is kept in abeyance, we are working with the central government on two projects. One is the lift water supply scheme at Akhnoor from the Chenab River and the second is the Tulbul navigation project for the Jhelum. Both proposals are under process. I believe work on both projects will start very soon," said Abdullah.
He said earlier the J&K Government couldn't take up water supply from the Chenab River after the Asian Development Bank funding for the project was sabotaged due to the Indus Waters Treaty.
After India's decision to suspend IWT, Pakistan threatened that stopping water would be treated as an act of war. But India remained undeterred. Besides, the Wular barrage, India has fast-tracked multiple hydroelectric projects on the Chenab River, as it doesn't require a clearance from Pakistan on the design and height of these projects.
