Indus Water Treaty suspension: Centre to revive Tulbul hydel project, says Khattar
Union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said the Centre will revive the Tulbul project on the Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir as it no longer needs Pakistan's consent after the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) was put in abeyance.
The minister also said India will 'definitely' work on new hydro-electric projects in the wake of the suspension of the IWT with Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
'Before, whenever we had to undertake some work, we had to discuss that with them (Pakistan) and could not do anything without their consent. There was a project (Tulbul) under Wular Lake which was conceived in 1981 but they did not consent and it was shelved. Now, when there is no need (for consent), we will restart the project and a detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared soon,' Khattar said in Srinagar.
He was addressing a press conference on the completion of 11 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
Asked if the government would start working on new hydro-electric projects following the suspension of the IWT, he said, 'Yes, definitely. Whatever they have to do, let them do that. We have given them a response and if they do anything again, they will get a response on the same pattern.'
The Tulbul project, which envisaged constructing a 439-ft-long and 40-ft-wide barrage with a storage capacity of 0.3 million-acre-feet (MAF) below the Wular Lake near Ningli in north Kashmir's Bandipora district to stabilise Jhelum's water level, was abandoned midway in 1987 after strong objections from Pakistan.
In talks with Centre on resumption of projects: Omar
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said discussions were being held with the Centre on the resumption of development projects that were halted due to the Indus Water Treaty.
With the treaty in abeyance, Omar said there are two projects -- one in Kashmir and the other in Jammu -- on which work can begin soon.
'After the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, we have two projects on which work can start soon, one is in Kashmir and the other is in Jammu. Now, talks are going on with the central government regarding both the projects,' Omar said when asked whether the government will take advantage of the IWT being in abeyance.
The CM was talking to reporters after a meeting with Khattar at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here.
At a review meeting, Omar said it was related to centrally sponsored projects and schemes under the ministry of power and the ministry of housing and urban affairs -- both departments that he handles.
'Overall, progress in both areas has been fairly satisfactory. We also discussed areas where we have expectations from the Centre. In some places, there were minor shortcomings, and we have received suggestions on how to correct them. We will implement those,' he said.
To a question on the power department facing losses, the chief minister said it is still in debt because there is a difference in the price at which the government purchases and supplies power.
'We are supplying power to everyone on a concession basis. Be it a domestic consumer or commercial consumer or industrial consumer, everyone takes power at concession rates. But it will get better gradually,' he said.
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