NEW DELHI: India is working to ensure “not a single drop of water” will flow into neighbouring Pakistan, the water minister has said, after New Delhi suspended a major treaty last year.
Pakistan has previously said it would consider any attempt to change the flow of cross-border waterways as an “act of war”, and says that the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) remains in force as there is no mechanism to unilaterally withdraw from it.
“It is certain, not a single drop of water will go [to Pakistan] in the coming years,” Minister of Water CR Patil told India’s ANI news agency late Tuesday.
Patil, speaking in Hindi, said that India is “actively working on it” after “directives” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In May, India’s government-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation issued a tender notice for a proposed tunnel project that would transfer water from the Chenab River to the Beas Basin.
India’s power ministry said in January it was undertaking “sediment removal” at Salal Power Station on the Chenab River “following the termination of the Indus Waters Treaty”.
Experts say that India’s existing dams do not have the capacity to block or divert water, and can only regulate timings of when it releases flows.
An official in IIOJK said that any work would “not be possible to start before mid-2027”, and would take at least five years to complete.
