The Nationwide Hydroelectric Energy Company (NHPC) has issued an official notification inviting e-tenders for the Sawalkote Hydroelectric Mission, a plan initially conceived within the Sixties.
Utilising the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, the Indian authorities has moved additional to regulate the stream of water to the neighbouring nation within the wake of Operation Sindoor in Might. The Centre has now sought tenders to revive a long-dormant undertaking – constructing the 1,856 MW Sawalkote Hydroelectric Mission on the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district, ANI reported.
Pakistan’s rising woes
Pakistan’s challenges proceed to mount as India intensifies its response following the Pahalgam terror assault. Among the many key developments is the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, a big diplomatic and water-sharing accord between the 2 nations.
NHPC invitations bids for Sawalkote dam undertaking
The Nationwide Hydroelectric Energy Company (NHPC) has issued an official notification inviting e-tenders for the Sawalkote Hydroelectric Mission, a plan initially conceived within the Sixties. The final date for submission of on-line bids is 10 September. The undertaking is situated close to Sidhu village in Ramban district, roughly 120 km from Jammu and 130 km from Srinagar. The undertaking, envisioned round 60 years in the past lay dormant because of the identical Indus Waters Treaty.
Strategic transfer to optimise Indus waters
The development of the Sawalkote undertaking is being seen as a serious strategic step in India’s efforts to optimise its use of the Indus River system, notably because the Indus Water Treaty stays in abeyance. The suspension of the treaty is one in all India’s stern responses to Pakistan within the aftermath of the Pahalgam assault.
Exterior Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, addressing the problem yesterday, underscored the distinctiveness of the Indus Water Treaty and criticised the Congress occasion’s historic method to negotiations with Pakistan.
“The Indus Water Treaty, in some ways, is a really distinctive settlement. I can’t consider any settlement on the planet the place a rustic has allowed its main rivers to stream to the subsequent nation with out having rights on that river,” Jaishankar remarked.
He additionally cited former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s assertion in Parliament in 1960 for instance of misplaced priorities.
What’s the Indus Waters Treaty
Signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Financial institution, the Indus Waters Treaty governs the distribution of water from the Indus River system between India and Pakistan. Regardless of surviving wars and extended diplomatic tensions, latest developments have introduced its future into query.
The treaty allocates the jap rivers, Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej, to India, and the western rivers, Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum, to Pakistan. India is permitted restricted use of the western rivers for non-consumptive functions akin to energy technology and irrigation.