Projects revolving around the Indus Water Treaty
It is widely believed that India has been quite generous as far as sharing of the water of Indus goes. The Indus Water Treaty has for long ensured the sharing of the water of Indus and it’s tributaries. However, the prolonged ill adviced actions of Pakistan have been pushing India over the edge.
We call the actions ill adviced because India lies upriver of Indus and it’s tributaries and as such had a greater control over the rivers. India is, however, known to have never misused this advantage and had always been fair in sharing of the water of Indus. The situation today, however, stands at a point where India is bound to take action.
The government of India has taken a decision to put three projects in the fast track category to ensure that it uses up hundred per cent of its share of water under the Indus Water Treaty. India currently does not put to use the entire amount of water allocated to it under the Indus Water Treaty and this portion goes to Pakistan. This is a smart move it does not violate an international treaty but at the same time grants India with a larger share of Indus waters and a smaller portion to Pakistan.
The three projects that the Indian government has far tracked and that will affect the sharing of the water of Indus include a Sutlej Beas link located in Punjab and the construction of two dams, Shahpur Kandi and Ujh.
According to an official, “These (three) projects were stuck in red tape and inter-state disputes. But it has been decided to expedite the execution of these projects,”.
In the year 2016, the government of India had constituted a high-level task force. This high-level task force was led the principal secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Nripendra Mishra and constituted of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, foreign secretary Jaishankar and finance secretary Ashok Lavasa.
It was this task force that was charged with finding a way to better utilise the waters of Indus without scraping or violating the Indus Water Treaty. It is the recommendations and work of this task force that had set this course into action.
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