Indus Water Treaty: India, Pak teams inspect power projects in J-K

Jammu: Delegations from India and Pakistan on Monday flew to Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district with neutral experts and began inspection of two power projects under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), officials said.

Nearly 40 people reached Jammu on Sunday evening and flew to Kishtwar the next morning for inspection of various under-construction power projects in the Chenab valley region, the officials said. This is the first visit by a Pakistani delegation to Jammu and Kashmir in more than five years under the dispute settlement mechanism of the 1960 treaty.

India and Pakistan signed the IWT after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory of the pact which sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two sides on the use of waters of a number of cross-border rivers. A three-member Pakistan delegation inspected the Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydroelectric power projects under the provisions of the IWT for the last time in January 2019, before the ties between the two countries froze following the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Immediately after landing at an army camp, the delegation visited the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) headquarters, the officials said, adding, they left for the 85 MW Ratle hydroelectric power project site at Drabshalla for dam inspection. They will also visit the 1,000 MW Pakal Dul hydroelectric project on river Marusudar, a tributary of river Chenab, and other power projects during their stay in Kishtwar, the officials said. Pakistan had in a request to the World Bank in 2016 objected to the design features of the two hydroelectric power projects and sought a settlement through a ‘Neutral Expert.’