New Delhi, Feb 22(UNI) Construction on Shahpurkandi project, Ujh multipurpose project and the 2nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh will help India utilise its entire share of waters under the Indus Treaty Treaty 1960, officials in the Water resources Ministry said on Friday..
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had on Thursday said that India will make sure that its share of waters from eastern rivers, under the Indus Water treaty 1960, will be diverted from Pakistan to Jammu and kashmir and Punjab.
In the wake of February 14 Puwama attack, Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said, 'Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. 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'.
'The construction of dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states,' the Minister added.
He said all these projects have been declared as the National Projects.
The Shahpurkandi project will help in utilizing the waters coming out from powerhouse of Thein dam to irrigate 37000 hectares of land in J&K and Punjab and generate 206 MW of power. The project was scheduled to be completed by September 2016.
However, following a dispute between the state of Jammu and kashmir and Punjab, the work on the project had been suspended since August 30, 2014. The cost of the project is Rs 2715.70 crore.
The Union Government through its order dated December 19, 2018 has approved the Central Assistance of
Rs 485.38 crore towards balance cost of works of irrigated component of the project. The construction work
has now resumed by the government of Punjab under monitoring of Union government, the sources added.
Construction of Ujh multipurpose project will create a storage of about 781 million cu m of water on river Ujh , a tributary of Ravi for irrigation and power generation in India itself and provide a total irrigation benefits of 31,380 ha in Kathua, Hiranagar and Samba district of J&K apart from providing water for the district Kathua of J&K.
The DPR of the project has been technically approved for the total estimated cost of Rs 5,850 crore (July, 2017). This project is a National Project and the Central Assistance of Rs 4,892.47 crore on works portion of irrigation component as well as the special grant is under consideration. The implementation of the project will be 6 years from beginning of the implementation, they added.
The 2nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh is being planned to tap excess water flowing down to Pakistan through river Ravi, even after construction of Thein Dam, by constructing a barrage across river Ravi for diverting water through a tunnel link to Beas basin.
The project is expected to utilise about 0.58 MAF of surplus waters below Ujhdam by diverting the same to Beas basin for benefits of other co-basin states. Govt. of India declared this project as National Project.
The above three projects will help India to utilize its entire share of waters given under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960.
The Indus system comprises of main Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan with a small share for China and Afghanistan, official sources in the Union
Water Resources Ministry here on Friday said.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of three rivers, namely Ravi, Sutlej and Beas (Eastern rivers) averaging around 33 million acre feet (MAF) were allocated to India for exclusive use.
The waters of Western rivers - Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab averaging to around 135 MAF were allocated to Pakistan except for specified domestic, non-consumptive and agricultural use permitted to India as provided in the Treaty.
India has also been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run of the river(RoR) projects on the Western Rivers which, subject to specific criteria for design and operation is unrestricted.
To utilise the waters of the Eastern rivers which have been allocated to India for exclusive use, India has constructed Bhakra Dam on Satluj, Pong and Pandoh Dam on Beas and Thein (Ranjitsagar) on Ravi. These storage works, together with other works like Beas-Sutlej Link, Madhopur-Beas Link, Indira Gandhi Nahar Project has helped India utilise nearly entire share (95 per cent) of waters of Eastern rivers.
However, about 2 MAF of water annually from Ravi is reported to be still flowing unutilized to Pakistan below Madhopur.
UNI AE AR 1646