India plans to connect rivers to stop water flow to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: In a new disclosure, the Modi government has made plans to connect the Indus River with the Ravi and Beas Rivers by diverting water to the Harike Barrage in Punjab through the Sutlej River, reports the India Today.

In its edition of June 8, the India Today says that India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, and now the Indian government has devised a long-term strategy that will make Pakistan yearn for every single drop of water in the coming future. According to the report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is committed to making Pakistan pay for the Pahalgam massacre, and plans are in place to restrict water from the Indus, Sutlej and Beas Rivers to Pakistan. The Modi government has plans to connect the Indus River with the Ravi-Beas Rivers by diverting water to the Harike Barrage in Punjab through the Sutlej River. The mega canal will be around 200-km-long, and involves constructing as many as 12 large tunnels. Water running through these tunnels will flow into the Indira Gandhi Canal, and a few others including the Ganga Canal in Rajasthan, ultimately flowing into the Yamuna River.

The India Today further mentions that Pakistan has written four letters to India, pleading with New Delhi to restore the Indus Waters Treaty which was suspended after the Pahalgam terror attack in April. It says that once the project is completed, several Indian states including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh will benefit from Indus waters, while the excess water will flow into Ganges and Yamuna Rivers.

The project is expected to be completed within two to three years and will also help in reviving the Yamuna River in many places, officials said. “The Chenab River will also be linked with the Beas River through Juspa Dam of which almost 40 work has already been completed,” says the Indian newspaper.