Describing the termination of Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan as marking of a new beginning, Jammu and Kashmir L-G Manoj Sinha on Saturday said the decision was a befitting response to Pakistan and will immensely benefit J&K which will be able to harness its real hydropower potential.
At an event, Sinha said India will create infrastructure, including construction of power plants, reservoirs, and divert river waters flowing in J&K to new areas with proper infrastructure to utilise it.
“India’s water will now flow within India and remain in India,’’ he said adding that “with the termination of the IWT, we now have full control over the Jhelum and Chenab rivers”. In response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed, PM Narendra Modi-led government held the treaty in abeyance with Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil emphasising that “we will ensure that not even a drop of water from the Indus river goes to Pakistan”.
The barren areas of Jammu can be irrigated and there will be a new momentum in the development of infrastructure in J&K, he said. India has made it clear that blood and water cannot flow together, terror and talk cannot go together and terror and trade cannot happen together, he said.
“India will now create infrastructure, power plants and diversion to new areas with proper infrastructure to use the water and it will enable construction of new reservoirs,” he said. “Termination of the IWT is a befitting response to Pakistan and it will have far-reaching consequences since it is dependent on the Indus River system,” he said.
L-G Sinha also cited a November 1960 debate in Parliament and the statements of prominent leaders in the House observing that the IWT was “a historical mistake, unfair, one sided” and hampered infrastructure development in J&K.
Sinha also paid tribute to the civilians, who were martyred in the Pahalgam terror attack and reiterated his resolve to deliver justice to the victims.
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“It is being ensured that family members who were waiting for justice for decades, will receive jobs, financial assistance… Their culprits will not be spared and the properties of terror victims which were encroached by terrorists… will be vacated soon.”
