Last time 76-year-old, Prof Nisar Ali met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Raj Bhawan in Srinagar was a decade ago in 2014. At the time, he sought compensation for Jammu and Kashmir under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) rather than relief for the flood-hit Kashmir. Modi bristled with rage at the demand, said Ali.
“I met PM Modi in Raj Bhawan when NN Vohra was Governor. Although the meeting was on the rehabilitation of flood-hit people of Kashmir, I told the PM that what we needed was the money that the Centre owed us for the losses that we had suffered due to the Indus Water Treaty. The Prime Minister grew very angry over it,” Ali said.
On October 23, 2014, PM Modi announced Rs 745 crore relief for rebuilding flooded homes. In a media interaction alongside Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Modi acknowledged, “In the last 50 years, people of Jammu and Kashmir have never faced such a disaster.”
J&K’s Hydropower Shortfall
Before 2014, Ali, an Economics professor with Kashmir University, had met two former chief ministers, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Farooq Abdullah, to build a case for compensating Jammu and Kashmir on account of restrictions on the construction of hydel power projects imposed under IWT.
Ten years later, political parties have, once again, revived their demand for compensation for the now-Union Territory (UT). Under the IW, signed in 1960 between India and Pakistan along with the World Bank, allocation of the Western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) was made to Pakistan, and the Eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India.
On the rivers Jhelum and Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir, several power projects have been constructed; however, due to the restrictions on dam height, the hydropower potential couldn’t be fully utilised. Apart from a lack of funds, IWT is seen to be a major reason that J&K has developed only 3,400 MW of electricity against 20,000 MW of hydro power potential.
The Chief Minister’s Advisor, Nasir Aslam Wani, said, “Jammu and Kashmir needs to be compensated for the losses that we have faced under the Indus Water Treaty.” Congress, the NC’s alliance partner, also favoured the view that Jammu and Kashmir should receive compensation from the Central government.
Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said, “We are in favour of empowering Jammu and Kashmir. We are for returning some power projects that have given their money back to the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). The Central government should increase the share of free power to Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the Chenab Valley region, where the power projects have been constructed.”
Return Of Power Projects To J&K
Former Minister and senior PDP leader, Nayeem Akhtar, said that the return of power projects to Jammu and Kashmir was enshrined in the Agenda of Alliance that PDP and BJP signed before forming the government in Jammu and Kashmir on March 1, 2015.
As per the Agenda of Alliance, the State Government would work with the Centre to explore modalities for “transfer of Dulhasti and Uri hydro power projects to J&K as suggested by the Rangarajan Committee report and secure a share in the profits of NHPC emanating from J&K waters to the state government.”
Akthat said that: “The Indus Water Treaty is a six-river system under which there were restrictions on the building of storage power projects. Whatever we have are run-of-the-river projects. We have been seeking the transfer of at least two projects that have given their investment to Jammu and Kashmir to Jammu and Kashmir.”
In 2010, Governor NN Vohra said in his address to the Legislative Assembly that the Jammu and Kashmir government was in talks with the Central government over the transfer of the 390 MW Dulhasti power project to the state to implement the recommendations made by the Rangarajan Committee.
Political parties in the past have sought an increase in the royalty from the existing 12 per cent to 40 per cent in all central sector hydroelectric projects (HEPs).
How Much Loss Has J&K Suffered?
Ali said that the losses suffered on account of the IWT were much higher than what the Rangarajan Committee had recommended. “A cabinet subcommittee was formed to assess the losses that we suffered due to the Indus Water Treaty. From 1960 to 1998, Jammu and Kashmir suffered the loss of around Rs 20,000 crore due to the restrictions imposed under the IWT. It was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who vigorously pursued the issue of return of power projects to Jammu and Kashmir,” said Ali.
He added that: “Under the treaty, we were not allowed to make the dams beyond a certain height, while we couldn’t even irrigate more than 13 lakh hectares of land.”
New Delhi’s New Plans
With the IWT now put on abeyance, New Delhi has begun a series of measures in Jammu and Kashmir, from flushing out silt from power projects for the first time, to even now carrying out a survey of the Jhelum river for possible water transport facilities in Kashmir. According to officials, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) recently carried out a survey of the Jhelum river for the operation of water transport facilities there. “The team of IWAI carried out a survey from Sangam down to Gantamulla in North Kashmir to develop river navigation infrastructure,” said an official of the Irrigation and Flood Control department.
On May 13, IWAI also set up its office in Srinagar’s Transport Bhawan after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UT government to develop river navigation infrastructure in three waterways in the Union Territory of rivers Chenab, Jhelum, and Ravi.
“The Authority will now start the development works under the framework of the MoU. These works include setting up of floating jetties at ten locations in Jammu and Kashmir, development of navigational fairway by dredging wherever required, night navigational aids, and regular hydrographic surveys for safe plying of vessels in these waterways,” the IWAI said.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had earlier said that the revival of the Tulbul navigation barrage in Kashmir could help in the utilisation of the Jhelum river for navigation purposes. A senior official in the government said that the work on the Tulbul navigation barrage has remained suspended due to objections from the Pakistani side.
In a post on X, Omar said, “The civil works you see in the video is the Tulbul Navigation Barrage. It was started in the early 1980s but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan, citing the Indus Water Treaty. Now that the IWT has been temporarily suspended, I wonder if we will be able to resume the project. It will give us the advantage of allowing us to use the Jhelum for navigation. It will also improve the power generation of downstream power projects, especially in winter.”
About the Tulbul navigation barrage, a senior government official said, “This would have enabled running water transport on the Jhelum river. It would have ensured that the output of the power projects in Uri had increased. In winters, the generation capacity of our power projects comes down significantly, and the barrage would have helped to maintain a proper water level in the power projects.”
PDP has, however, reacted sharply over what it termed the J&K Chief Minister’s call to revive the Tulbul Navigation project, describing the move as unfortunate. “At a time when both countries (India and Pakistan) have just stepped back from the brink of a full-fledged war, with Jammu and Kashmir bearing the brunt through the loss of innocent lives, widespread destruction, and immense suffering, such statements are not only irresponsible but also dangerously provocative. Our people deserve peace as much as anyone else in the country. Weaponising something as essential and life-giving as water is not only inhumane but also risks internationalising what should remain a bilateral matter,” Mufti said in her social media post slamming the NC for handing over power projects to the Central government.
“PDP has consistently called for the return of power projects that NC handed over to NHPC on a platter at a pittance. Even in the PDP-BJP Agenda of Alliance, it was agreed that two projects would be returned to Jammu and Kashmir to compensate for losses from the Indus Water Treaty. During my meeting with the Prime Minister in 2017, the issue of compensation under the IWT was clearly discussed. But let me be clear, we never advocated scrapping the treaty. Such a move could heighten tensions and once again place J&K at the epicentre of conflict,” said Mufti.
Apart from Pakistan raising objections on the design features of the Kishenganga (330 megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) hydroelectric power plants in Jammu and Kashmir in the past, officials said that “due to the Indus Water treaty, there was a limit to which the water can also be released from the power projects in the rivers.” “The flushing out to eject the silt was not common. In one project, the flushing has been done for the first time,” said a senior official in the civil administration.
“Also, there was a cap on the dam height. In one project, for example, there was the dam height to be a maximum of 134 metres, which would impact the level of water required for the generation of electricity and in turn influence the output,” said the official.
While the officials said that projects like the Tulbul navigation project could help in more efficient generation of electricity, as would the construction of power projects using storage facilities, Ravinder Sharma questioned whether there is any infrastructure in place to stop the flow of water to Pakistan. “We have supported the government’s actions against Pakistan in the national interest. But do we have the infrastructure that will completely stop water to Pakistan?” he said.
