A Pakistan delegation arrived in India on Monday for a meeting of the Indus Water Commissioners on March 23 and 24 to discuss routine issues as well as New Delhi’s plans for a series of dams on River Chenab.
The key meeting of India and Pakistan to discuss the Indus water sharing issue will begin in New Delhi today. .
This will be the first meeting in over two as also the first after the reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh into separate UTs and PM Modi’s announcement of several hydel projects in Ladakh UT.
The Pakistan team will be led by its Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Muhammad Meher Ali Shah and the Indian delegation by Indus Commissioner PK Saxena.
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Ahead of the meeting, Saxena said, “India is committed towards full utilisation of its rights under the Treaty and believes in an amicable solution of issues through discussion.”
In the last meeting held in Lahore in August 2018, Pakistan had urged India to entertain the objections it had raised over the construction of Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydropower projects on Chenab.
Since then, India has cleared many hydropower projects for the region. Among these, Durbuk Shyok (19 MW), Shankoo (18.5 MW), Nimu Chilling (24 MW), Rongdo (12 MW) and Ratan Nag (10.5 MW) are in Leh; Mangdum Sangra (19 MW), Kargil Hunderman (25 MW), and Tamasha (12 MW) have been cleared for Kargil.
