New Delhi: Days after India suspended the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan after a deadly terrorist attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’a Pahalgam, New Delhi on Sunday restricted the flow of Chenab waters to its neighbouring country. Flushing and desilting operations are being conducted at the Baglihar and Salal hydropower projects. It is done as India prepares to regulate the flow of western rivers to Pakistan during the winter months.
This led to an unprecedented drop in water levels downstream. In Jammu’s Akhnoor, residents were able to walk across the Chenab riverbed for the first time in living memory, as water levels fell from 25–30 feet to just 1.5–2 feet, a Times of India report mentioned. Authorities closed all five main gates of the Baglihar Dam and those of the Salal Dam downstream. The move effectively stopped the river’s flow into Pakistan where it serves as a major resource for the Punjab province.
IWT on pause, no need to follow provisions
Officials described the move as part of routine maintenance, involving the flushing of silt and mud followed by temporary closure of the dam gates. However, the timing and scale of the operation align with India’s broader roadmap prepared after the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadows that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. In the aftermath of the attack, India announced the suspension of the IWT, which mandated informing Islamabad before altering water flows of the Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus rivers.
“Since the Treaty is on pause and there is no obligation to follow its provisions, we may do flushing on any project without any obligation. It will ensure longer effective life of such projects,” the TOI report quoted Kushvinder Vohra, former chairman of the Central Water Commission, as saying.
The desilting and flushing operations are part of short-term measures under the Centre’s roadmap. Medium-term actions include expediting under-construction hydropower projects such as Pakal Dul (1000 MW), Ratle (850 MW), Kiru (624 MW), and Kwar (540 MW). These projects are expected to bolster India’s hydropower capacity in Jammu & Kashmir from the current 4,000 MW to over 10,000 MW. It will also enhance water storage capabilities for the Union Territory and neighbouring states.
What more can India do?
Other measures that India can take include curbing the flow of nine cusecs of water from the Kishanganga project—previously mandated for Pakistan—and utilising it for additional power generation. Long-term plans focus on developing new infrastructure projects, such as the Tulbul navigation project on the Jhelum, works on Wular Lake for improved flood management, lift irrigation projects, and utilisation of the Ranbir and Pratap canals to benefit the Jammu region.
Experts believe the actions show years of preparation to develop infrastructure capable of exerting strategic leverage through water management. They also said that earlier it was said that India lacked infrastructure to exert pressure through water management, but it is not the case.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has earlier said that the IWT had harmed Jammu & Kashmir’s interests by ceding rights over regional rivers to Pakistan without consultation. He has called for the diversion of Chenab’s waters to Jammu.
