India stored 200,000 acre-feet of water in Baglihar: minister: Daily Times

* Outstanding payments to IPPs amount to Rs 100bn, Pervez Ashraf tells NA

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: India had stored 200,000 acre-feet of water for the initial filling of the Baglihar Hydroelectric Plant during August and September 2008 – about 130th of the average inflow of the River Chenab – and the move affected agricultural crops especially rice, the National Assembly was told on Saturday.

In a written response to a question by Sabeen Rizvi, Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said the Pakistan commissioner for Indus waters took up the matter seriously as India had violated the Indus Water Treaty. He said that India began filling the Baglihar Dam without informing Pakistan and inflow in Chenab was reduced to less than the minimum requirement of 55,000 cusecs.

In another written response to a question posed by Marvi Memon, the minister said the outstanding payments to independent power producers (IPPs) amounted to Rs 100 billion and that had caused a shortage of 1,366 megawatts of power.

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