All the gates of the Dam Bagihar Hydroelectric Project Dam on the Chenab River are currently closed. The development took place amidst the ongoing water level monitoring in the area. Apart from this, the gates of Salal Dam on the Chenab river in Reasi district were also closed. On Friday morning, a gate of the dam was opened to control overflow due to probably increased water level.
In fact, on May 8, the doors of Bagalihar Dam were opened on 8 May due to the possibility of flooding due to heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir. Despite arriving at the agreement to end enmity, the Indian government is taking its stand on the Indus Water Treaty which is still postponed. The treaty was suspended after the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Indus system includes the main Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Vyas and Sutlej. The water of this basin is mainly between India and Pakistan, while it is small in China and Afghanistan. Under the Indus Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in the 1960s, the total water of three rivers, ie Ravi, Sutlej and Beas (Eastern Rivers), which is an average of about 33 million acres feet (MAF), was allocated for special use.
The average water of the Western rivers Indus, Jhelum and Chenab was around 135 MAF, which was allocated to Pakistan except for permission to India for specific domestic, non-individual and agricultural use provided in the treaty. India has also been given the right to hydroelectric production through the Run of the River (ROR) projects on Western rivers, which is unrestricted under specific criteria of design and operation.
Eastern rivers, which have been allocated to India for special use, India has constructed Bhakra Dam on Sutlej, Pong and Pandoh Dam on Vyas and Thein (Ranjit Sagar) dam on Ravi. Along with these storage works, Beas-Satalaj Link, Madhopur-Beas Link, Indira Gandhi Canal Project etc. have helped India to use most of the water of eastern rivers.
In his address to the nation on May 12, PM Modi said that after the surgical strike in 2016 and the air strike in 2019, now Operation is India’s policy against vermilion terrorism. The Prime Minister referred to India to postpone the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack and said that water and blood could not flow together.
He also said that if there is talks with Pakistan, it will only be on terrorism and the vacancy of the illegal occupied Kashmir of Pakistan. The Prime Minister said that the Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, has established a new criteria in India’s fight against terrorism and has established a new norm and a new general.