Indus Waters Treaty a 'historic mistake', says Shivraj Singh Chouhan

NEW DELHI: Calling the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan a "historic mistake" by the then govt, Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said the present govt would work on "short, mid and long term" plans to utilise waters, given to the neighbouring country under the agreement, for providing irrigation facilities to farmers and enhancing hydro-power capacity .

He said it was unfortunate that 80% water of Indian (western) rivers, including Indus, Chenab and Jhelum, went to Pakistan in accordance with this treaty.

"It was a historic mistake... Our farmers have rights on waters of these rivers. We'll utilise every drop of it for irrigation, hydro-power and development," said Chouhan while addressing a national conference here on Kharif (summer sown crops) campaign.

Keeping the treaty in abeyance is a "historic decision" in the interest of the country and farmers, he added. With the suspension of this treaty, Chouhan said farmers of bordering states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, as well as Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, would get more water for irrigation.

Govt has kept the 65-year-old treaty in abeyance following the killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, in a terror attack in J&K's Pahalgam on April 22.

Under the treaty, waters of the eastern rivers - Sutlej, Beas and Ravi - are allocated to India for unrestricted use, while the waters of western rivers - Indus, Jhelum and Chenab - are allocated largely to Pakistan.

Though India is permitted to use the water of the western rivers for domestic use, irrigation and generation of hydro-electric power, the country has not been fully utilising its legal share due to lack of storage capacity.

Govt has now prepared a detailed roadmap, carrying short, medium and long-term plans, to enhance the country's water storage capacity and speed up completing under construction hydro-power projects on priority.