New Delhi, May 16: The Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) is in no hurry to dilute the decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, a stand taken by the Centre as part of tough measures announced against Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack, a top official said on Friday.
The Treaty figured prominently in MoJS monthly report sent to the Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan earlier in the week, indicating a status quo on the suspension. Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, noted in the monthly report that the IWT shall remain suspended “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”.
The Indian government is in no hurry to consider a request from Pakistani Water Resources Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza offering to discuss objections raised by New Delhi earlier while seeking the IWT’s renegotiation.
The developments on the IWT came close to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his predecessor Mehbooba Mufti taking contradictory stands on calls for revival of the Tulbul Navigation project in J&K after the suspension of the IWT.
The Tulbul Navigation project – that seeks to rejuvenate the Jhelum-fed Wular lake in Bandipora district – was launched in 1987 but paused in 2007 amid objections from Pakistan under the IWT.
With India suspending the Treaty on April 23, a day after the Pahalgam terror attack, Abdullah on Thursday called for resumption of work in the project on Wular Lake. In a post on X, the Chief Minister said that since the water pact with Pakistan has been kept in abeyance: “I wonder if we will be able to resume the project.”
Mufti opposed the idea and described CM Abdullah’s suggestion as “irresponsible and dangerously provocative”. Earlier last month, Union Minister of Jal Shakti C.R. Patil launched a web-based Reservoir Storage Monitoring System (RSMS) Portal. The Central Water Commission monitors Live Storage Capacity of 161 important reservoirs of country an issues weekly bulletin on every Thursday.
The total live storage capacity of these reservoirs at full reservoir level (FRL) is 182.375 billion cubic meters (BCM) which is about 70.74 per cent of the total live storage capacity estimated to have been created in the country. This Bulletin is sent to PMO, Niti Aayog, MoJS, MOP, MOA&FW, IMD, Disaster Management Authorities and all concerned states as well as uploaded on CWC web site.
IANS
