India has decided to stop its share of waters from the tributaries of the Indus river from flowing into Pakistan, federal Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari said Thursday.
The announcement came days after a suicide bombing in India-administered Kashmir killed 40 paramilitary police officers. India blamed a militant group based in Pakistan for the blast.
‘Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab,’ Gadkari said on Twitter.
The World Bank-backed Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1950 entitled India to waters of the eastern rivers - the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi - and gave Pakistan control of the western rivers - the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab.
The two sides have since quarrelled over the water and have been engaged in talks over decades to sort out the issues.
Gadkari said the construction of a dam on the Ravi river had started.
The multipurpose project on the Ujh river in Kathua district of India's Jammu and Kashmir state is planned to include a hydro-power plant, drinking water plants and irrigation supplies.
