India's new dams will stop 5 per cent water to Pakistan

New Delhi: India decided on Thursday to stop the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, a move seen as a fallout of the terrorist attack in Pulwama.

India’s share of the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej river waters came to 33 million acres feet (MAF). While about 95 per cent of water is being used in the country after the construction of three main dams across the rivers, close to five per cent water or 1.6 MAF would flow to Pakistan.

To gain access to this water, India is now building more dams which will be completed in six years, officials said. Another official said the decision was taken two months back.

Water to Pakistan from the three rivers has been flowing for 60 years, while the country needs it to meet the needs of its citizens, they said, insisting the stopping of its share of water from going to Pakistan is in no way a violation of the treaty.

“Under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Sri @narendramodiji, Our Govt has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert the water from eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab,” Mr Gadkari said in a tweet. He added: “The construction of a dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river.

In an address at a public rally at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gadkari said, “We have started the work of purification of river Yamuna ... After the formation of India and Pakistan, Pakistan got three rivers, and India got three rivers. The rightful water of our three rivers was flowing to Pakistan.”

“Now we will build three projects on them, and divert the water to river Yamuna,”

The Cabinet in December had approved the Shahpurkandi dam on the Ravi in Punjab.