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| 2 Ladakh hydel projects on agenda of Indo-Pak meet |
| Kalpana Jain / New Delhi Apr 14, 2010, 00:42 IST |
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India’s proposed Nimoo Bazgo and Chutak hydel projects are expected to be on the agenda when the Indus Water Commissioners of India and Pakistan get together for their annual meeting, here next month.
Pakistan had already raised objections to construction of both. Nimoo Bazgo is a run of the river scheme to harness the hydropower potential of the Indus in Leh district of Jammu & Kashmir’s Ladakh region. Chutak is to harness the hydropower potential of the Suru river in Kargil district of the same region. Both projects have an installed capacity of 44 Mw.
At this meeting, the two countries are expected to discuss the process of data collection. During an earlier meeting in March (at Lahore), Pakistan had insisted a telemetric system for measuring the flow of rivers be set up. Indian experts say casting doubts on data goes against the very spirit of the treaty. Also, they say there are enough safeguards in the treaty itself.
As for setting up a telemetric system, they said the terrain is such that it is not practical to implement such a system. “The practicability of such a suggestion is also to be considered, experts said. Such a system will be installed in remote places and can be tampered with by miscreants or destroyed by animals. With no regular monitoring of such a system, the instrument itself may start malfunctioning and give out faulty data,” they added. Under the present system, water experts collect information on river flow from various points with the help of sophisticated equipment.
Pakistan has also raised doubts over the information supplied by India on its hydroelectric projects and irrigation schemes on the Indus. A recent news report in the Nation, for instance, says: “Water experts revealed that the completion of the controversial Nimoo Bazgo dam and Chutak hydroelectric project would destroy the agriculture sector of Pakistan, particularly of the Sindh province, the mainstay of the country’s agro-economy. Following the completion of these water projects, New Delhi would be able to stop the waters of the river Sindh for 20 to 25 days, thus completely destroying the early crop production in Sindh province.”
Indian sources say such reports indicate a misinformation campaign aimed at covering up inter-provincial rivalry. Sindh and Balochistan have often accused Pakistan’s western province of Punjab of denying them Indus water. the Union government’s former secretary, water resources, Ramaswamy R Iyer, said in an article recently, “The fact that needs to be stated clearly and categorically is that there is no water issue between India and Pakistan. Water-sharing on the Indus stands settled by the Indus Treaty, 1960, and the sharing is so simple (three rivers to India, three rivers to Pakistan) that no misunderstandings or misinterpretations are possible.”
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