India constructing three dams in held Kashmir: The News

Khalid Mustafa

ISLAMABAD: India has started construction of three dams on the Indus River — the lifeline of Pakistan. The construction of these dams is part of the Indian plan to generate 2,060 MW of electricity.

According to the latest study titled ‘Mountains of Concrete: Dam Building in the Himalayas’, Pakistan is on the brink of water disaster and its availability would plunge to 800 cubic meters per capita annually by 2020 from the current 1,200 cubic meters. Just 60 years ago, 5,000 cubic meters of water was available to every Pakistani citizen.

Keeping in view the appalling water situation in the country with only two big water reservoirs — Tarbela and Mangla — the Indian move could prove disastrous for Pakistan.

India has already constructed and made the Baglihar power project operational at the Chenab River and it is also building more dams on the Chenab River such as Uri-1, Uri-2 projects. India plans to construct 10-20 more dams on the Chenab River alone. On the Jhelum River, India is already constructing the Kishanganga Hydropower project.

The construction of these dams in Ladakh region to produce 219 megawatt of electricity has already started in clear violation of the Indus Water Treaty and ignoring the fragile environment of Ladakh region to meet the demand of the Indian Army deployed at Siachen glacier.

Indus River has a total length 3,180 kilometres from Tibet and to Arabian Sea. It runs 404km in China and 395km in Ladakh.

This information has been faxed in a letter written by Arshad H Abbasi, visiting research fellow SDPI Islamabad to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani seeking timely action to foil the Indian move to strangulate Pakistan’s agriculture sector. He has also sent copies of the letter to federal ministers of water & power and environment.

For more on this article, please click on the following link: India constructing three dams in held Kashmir: The News