india

Updated: Feb 21, 2019 23:08 IST

The Narendra Modi government has decided to stop India’s share of Indus waters from flowing into Pakistan, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

“Under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Sri Narendra Modi Ji, our government has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab,” Gadkari, the Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, tweeted.

The move comes a week after a car suicide bomber killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Pulwama. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed had owned responsibility for the attack but Prime Minister Imran Khan said Islamabad no role in it.

A spokesperson for the water resources ministry, however, clarified that there was nothing new in what Gadkari said. “This is not a new decision. He (Gadkari) is simply reiterating what he has always said. He is talking about diverting India’s share of Indus waters which was going to Pakistan — and he has always been saying this. Nothing new has been decided.”

Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, the six rivers in the Indus river system — Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Jhelum, Indus and Chenab — were divided between the two countries. While India got full rights for utilisation of the waters of the three eastern rivers, namely Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, it had to allow the three western rivers to flow unrestricted into Pakistan.

Gadkari said a dam was being constructed at Shahpur-Kandi on the river Ravi in Punjab. “Moreover, Ujh project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from second Ravi-Beas Link to provide water to other basin states.”

The project was approved by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in December 2018. It was aimed at minimizing some of the water of the river Ravi from going “waste” as it flows through the Madhopur Headworks downstream to Pakistan