India ramps up plan to tap potential of Indus basin rivers

Mint

18-07-2025

NEW DELHI
:
New Delhi: The Union water ministry is considering roping in state-run hydroelectric power generators NHPC Ltd and SJVN Ltd for developing dams and reservoirs connected to an ambitious river-linking project in Jammu and Kashmir, according to an official aware of the plan.
The official was one of three Mint spoke to about the government's plan to link the Indus and Chenab rivers in J&K in order to extract more water from the Indus river system, now that India has suspended its participation in the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.
The 1960 water-sharing pact came under strain following this year's armed conflict between India and Pakistan.
India's goal is to address Delhi's water shortage along with meeting the requirement for irrigation in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan by diverting more water from the Indus basin. This would be done by connecting the proposed Indus-Chenab link to the interconnected Ravi-Beas-Sutlej canal system, the people cited above said.
Read more: J&K seeks stake, revenue share in NHPC's ₹22,700 crore Sawalkot hydro project
The project would in the main rest on canals and tunnels linking the Indus with the Chenab in the first instance. This would be followed by linking the Chenab with three rivers—Ravi, Beas and Sutlej—that feed into Punjab.
Punjab and Haryana are considered the bread basket of India.
From there, the water would be routed to the 214-km Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal—conceived in the 1960s but still under construction—and then to the thirsty capital of Delhi.
The IWT already allows India unrestricted use of waters from the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. It gives Pakistan control over the other three rivers of the Indus Basin—the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.
The Indus begins in Tibet, enters India near Ladakh and then continues westward into Pakistan. By using water from the Indus, New Delhi can limit the water available to Pakistan.
'After linking the Indus and Chenab to the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej system, the plan conceives extending the linkage to the Sutlej-Yamuna Link, transferring the water to the Yamuna, which may ease water issues in the national capital," said one of the three people, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Times of India reported on 16 June that the Centre had initiated a pre-feasibility study for constructing a 113-km canal to redirect 18-24 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The study would take into account the ecological, topographical, and engineering viability of the project as it passes through the Himalayan terrain.
India's plan to enhance water diversion from the Indus basin also involves accelerating the construction of the multipurpose (hydropower, irrigation, drinking) project on the Ujh river—a major tributary of the Ravi—in J&K's Kathua to maximize the country's use of its share of the Ravi water.
The government suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with an aim to control the water flow into Pakistan as part of its diplomatic response to the 22 April Pahalgam attack.
The tall task
However, it's a long road from the drawing board of ministries to the farms of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The whole project would require two canals or a large-capacity structure like the Narmada Main Canal—an over 500-km canal that forms the backbone of India's largest integrated irrigation and drinking water project, the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada River, said the second person.
Further, connecting the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej system to the under-construction Sutlej-Yamuna Link may require dredging along the Yamuna's river-bed to increase its capacity to absorb the excess water, said A.K. Singh, general manager at NTPC, Hydro Headquarters.
'These are long gestation projects. The terrain, the required land acquisition and displacement of communities, various clearances like environment, forest, wildlife, etc., and preparing a detailed project report need to be taken into account. Such a mega-plan involves regulatory gates, generating equipment, water conductor system, etc.," said Abhay Kumar Singh, president, Indian National Hydropower Association (INHA) and former chairman and managing director of NHPC.
Read more: India to fast-track hydropower plans on Pakistan-bound rivers after treaty suspension
He said it would take a minimum of 6-to-10 years to just finish planning, that too when all stakeholders are on the same page. Besides, political commitment is crucial.
Cost is another factor: a project of this scale would require an investment of ₹2-3 trillion.
'River-linking projects are highly capital-intensive. The Centre will have to come up with a budget allocation. State-run companies on their own may not be able to put in the capex required," said an official with a hydro-power company on the condition of anonymity.
Queries sent to the Union ministries of Jal Shakti and power, NHPC and SJVN remained unanswered till press time.
Another problem is the status of the SYL, which has been stuck for decades.
First conceptualized in 1966, the construction of the 214-km SYL was started in 1982 and stalled in 1990 following the killing of project engineers and some workers by militants, amid protests against the project in Punjab. Work has been stuck amid a long-standing dispute between Punjab and Haryana over the quantum of of water to be shared.
The Supreme Court in 2020 asked both states to negotiate and move ahead with the construction. Talks have been underway without much movement on the ground. The last meeting was held on 9 July among the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana and the union minister for Jal Shakti C.R. Patil in the national capital. It remained inconclusive.
Punjab water resources minister Barinder Kumar Goyal told Mint that Indus Water Treaty suspension must be duly utilized to fulfil the water needs of his state.
"If the centre agrees to share the Chenab water adequately with Punjab and fulfil our water needs, then depending upon the feasibility report we would be ready to share Chenab water with other states such as Haryana – be it through canal or other modes."
The water diplomacy
Addressing members of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh in June, Union home minister Amit Shah said the Indus river water will be taken to Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, and that irrigation facilities would benefit large areas, leaving Pakistan water-starved.
Recently, the chief minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Singh Mann, also said the decision to keep the IWT in abeyance opens up the possibility of greater utilization of water from the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab within India.
Mann said waters of the western rivers should be allocated to Punjab on a priority and that new storage dams should be built upstream of the Bhakra and Pong dams.
The government has already set a plan in motion to fast-track under-construction hydroelectric power projects in J&K and develop new projects with large storage capacities and low-level sluice gates on the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers, Mint reported on 15 July.
Read more: Mint Explainer: India puts Indus Waters Treaty on ice—what's at stake for both sides
The Indus basin has the highest hydropower generation capacity in the country—32GW—of which only 15GW is operational.
"The proposed move is a win-win situation for Punjab and Haryana. However, the government needs to carry out the feasibility study first to ascertain whether the project is geographically and economically viable as it may include like laying pipes, tunneling, building canal," said Jaskaran Singh Waraich, Chairperson, Department of Defence and National Security Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
'The proposed linking of the Indus and Chenab with the Satluj-Yamuna Link is very much doable. However, the project will take a long time to be completed as it involves tunnelling, building dams, and canals. Also, there would be huge costs involved," said Iftikhar A. Drabu, a Srinagar-based civil engineer who has worked on hydropower projects, including Uri, KishanGanga, and Dulhasti.