The Indian government has launched another hydropower project on the River Chenab in the occupied Kashmir valley.
The project is yet another violation of the Indus Water Treaty, which awarded three western rivers Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab to Pakistan and eastern rivers Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej to India.
The 540 megawatts Kwar power hydroelectric project would be constructed over the Chenab river in the district of Kishtwar. Indian government’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved over INRs 45 billion for the project on April 27.
Reacting to the Indian decision, Pakistan’s Indus Water Commission this week said that the approval for the cabinet committee was a violation of the Indus Water Treaty which required India to inform Pakistan six months in advance before launching any project on the three western rivers.
The commission said that Pakistan would seek all the details about Kwar Hydro Power Project from New Delhi. It voiced concern about the Indian plans.
India has already constructed several hydropower projects on Pakistan rivers in the Indian-occupied Kashmir claiming that these were the ‘run-of-the-river’ projects allowed under the Indus Waters Treaty.
The Indus Waters Treaty was brokered by the World Bank between Pakistan and India in 1960. After the treaty, India over-exploited the three eastern rivers turning them into dry sand strips, which receive water only when there are floods in India.