India’s rightful water share flowing to Pakistan, says Nitin Gadkari

India is working to ensure that its share of unutilized water doesn’t enter Pakistan, union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari said Friday.

Gadkari was speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityanath), Rajasthan (Ashok Gehlot), Uttarakhand (Trivendra Singh Rawat), Haryana (Manohar Lal), Delhi ( Arvind Kejriwal), and Himachal Pradesh (Jai Ram Thakur) in New Delhi for the construction of Renukaji Multi-Purpose Dam project in the Upper Yamuna Basin.

The project, work on which began in 1976 has been facing multiple delays.

The project aims to generate 40 MW of power during peak flow.

It is to be executed by Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. (HPPCL).

“Our share of water has been going to Pakistan. As per the Indus Waters Treaty after the Partition, India and Pakistan each got three rivers, but till date water from Indian rivers is going to Pakistan. We decided that we will stop the flow and divert the water which is rightfully ours and take it to these six states,” Gadkari said.

Terming the signing of the agreement for Renukaji a historic moment, he said that this project would also ensure more flow in the Yamuna.

Gadkari also said he would try to get the Cabinet approval for the project soon.

He added that a consensus on Kishau Multi Purpose project on River Yamuna has been reached and that an agreement will be signed soon.

The union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation said work on the Lakhwar Multi Purpose project for which an agreement was signed in October, 2018 will begin soon.

However, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Thursday, stayed the Lakhwar project directing the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) to reappraise Uttarakhand’s 300 MW project, which has been stalled since 1992, and asked the state government to maintain “status quo” on construction.

After the construction of the Renukaji dam, the flow of river Giri will increase about 110% which will meet the drinking water needs of Delhi and other basin states, Gadkari said.The shares of water these states viz. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi are 47.82%, 33.65%, 3.15%, 9.34% and 6.04%, respectively.