Jal Shakti minister CR Patil reiterates govt stand on Indus Treaty, hits back at Pak

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

New Delhi India has kept the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance in the interest of the country and Pakistan's letters on the matter will not change the country's decision, Jal Shakti (water) minister CR Patil said on Thursday, when asked if India is considering renegotiating the water-sharing pact. Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to put the treaty on hold and the move will 'benefit the country', CR Patil said at a briefing. (ANI PHOTO)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to put the treaty on hold and the move will 'benefit the country', the minister said at a briefing. Asked if India had responded to a series of letters written by Pakistan on the matter, Patil said, 'Writing letters is a natural process. To write letters, replying etc…these things keep happening. But because letters were written…there is no forward movement... there is no change.'
On a question if India had stopped water to Pakistan, Patil said: 'In one line, I can say, water isn't going anywhere.'
Slamming Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto for his recent statements, the minister said: 'Whatever Bilawal (Bhutto) has to say, that is his question, he has to do his politics. He had also issued threats that if water stops, then blood will flow. We are not scared by threats from jackals.'
India announced suspending the bilateral treaty with Pakistan a day after terrorists killed 26 people in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. This was followed by Operation Sindoor, a military campaign by India to strike terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
The former Pakistani foreign minister had said on June 23 in a speech that his country would wage a war with India if the latter denied Pakistan its share of water.
Prior to keeping the water-sharing pact in abeyance, India had been pressing Pakistan to renegotiate the agreement, citing natural changes in the Indus river basin itself, which had diminished India's share amid a growing population. Under the treaty, the ratio of water shared between Pakistan and India stood at 80:20.
The minister further added, 'We have kept the treaty in abeyance and there's nothing that can be done.'
He, however, declined to go into details on India's future plans for hydropower dams on the Indus rivers but said a detailed project report for the long-delayed Tulbul navigation project, also known as Wullar Barrage, was under consideration.
'I can't go into details (on new projects on the Indus system). Answers to certain questions are available only at an appropriate time. This is also in the interest of the country,' the minister said.
Following India's suspension of the treaty, the country is working to speed up power projects on the Indus rivers on its side, according to officials. Keeping the pact in abeyance also means India is no longer obliged to provide hydrological information to Pakistan, an HT report had earlier quoted Shashi Shekhar, a former Union water resources secretary, as saying.
Desilting of dams is one of the immediate tasks India has lined up, which earlier was governed by the treaty. India is looking to hasten the commissioning of long-pending hydropower projects.
The Union government is looking to give speedy clearance to a ₹ 22,700-crore hydropower project in Sawalkote on the Chenab, HT had reported on June 10.
On being asked about Union home minister Amit Shah's recent statement that India will not change its stance of holding the pact in abeyance, Patil said, 'Amit Shah sahab is a big leader. He has also taken decisions on this. I can't answer for him. But whatever he said must be correct.'
On whether India would press for changes in the Ganga water treaty with Bangladesh, another critical bilateral agreement which expires next year, Patil said it would be decided at the international level and 'we will proceed on that basis'.
He however said the current political situation in the neighbour was not 'stable' for discussions on the treaty.
The government has created a stage-wise plan on cleaning up the river Yamuna, Patil said. On reported objections by Uttar Pradesh on the use of Ganga water to clean the Yamuna, the minister said the home minister had offered to talk to the state's chief minister on this.
'We are checking the technical feasibility of this. From whatever sources water is required to clean the Yamuna, we will look into it and we are going ahead with this target.'
The minister said the Delhi stretch of the river was the most polluted and the problem lay in two major drains. 'It is not possible to treat the water by holding it and this requires sewerage treatment plans.'
Robust checks were being carried out on complaints of cost escalation in the government's ambitious Jal Jeevan mission to get piped water to every rural household, Patil said.
'If mistakes were made, they will be rectified and no one will be spared, whether it is a contractor or anyone.'
The minister denied there was a delay in completion of the scheme despite the deadline for reaching water to all households being reset to 2028 from 2024. He said new households and new demand had been added since the mission was launched in 2019. The scheme aims to connect each of India's 194.2 million rural households with tap-water connections.