India cuts off water flow to Pakistan from dam on river Chenab

India has cut off water flow to Pakistan from the Baglihar dam on the Chenab river and is also preparing to taper down runoffs from the Kishanganga project on the Jhelum, following through on its decisions not to allow a “single drop” from going to the neighbouring country from the Indus rivers.

After a week of discussions and hydrological testing, India began de-silting operations in the Baglihar dam and lowered sluice gates, reducing downstream flow to Pakistan by up to 90%, while similar operations have been planned for the Kishanganga dam, an official from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation said on Sunday.

“We have closed the gates of the Baglihar hydel power project. We had done de-silting of the reservoir and it has to be refilled. The process was started on Saturday,” said a second official, who declined to be named.

India’s actions came within hours of Pakistan’s testing its surface-to-surface ballistic missile on Saturday, including banning of the docking of ships bearing the Pakistani flag in all ports of the country.

The Kishanganga dam, the first mega hydropower plant located in the north western Himalayas in the Gurez valley, will also undergo massive maintenance work “very soon” and all flow from it downstream will be halted. Pakistan has objected to the designs of both these dams.

India paused the six-decade-old Indus water treaty with Pakistan, already strained by long-running disputes, a day after terrorists had killed dozens of tourists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.

The second official said, “since India has kept the IWT in abeyance, we are exploring all possible ways to use our river waters for the benefit of our citizens”.

On Saturday, authorities of the Jal Shakti ministry updated the Union home ministry on a raft of measures being planned to augment water supply to northern states from the Indus system rivers. “We are ready with stringent punitive measures against Pakistan and nearly 50 engineers from the NHPC are already in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir to oversee the operations,” the first official said.

In this context, he said that India has made steady progress on four ongoing hydel power projects over the Chenab river and its tributaries in Jammu and Kashmir and they are likely to be commissioned in 2027-28.

These projects — Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Kiru (624 MW), Kwar (540 MW), and Ratle (850 MW) — are being implemented through a joint venture between NHPC and the Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stones of Pakal Dul, Kiru and Kwar hydel power projects on May 19, 2018, February 3, 2019 and April 22, 2022, respectively.

“Pakal Dul project has made 66 per cent progress, Kiru 55 per cent, Kwar 19 per cent and Ratle has made 21 per cent progress,” he said.

On the 930 MW Kirthai project, he said that following a memorandum between JKSPDC and NHPC, pending clearances were under process.

On the Ratle project, he said that a coffer dam, a pre-dam structure, was nearing completion.

“There’s 21 per cent physical progress made so far. We expect to complete it by November 2028,” he added.

The official informed that the work on the Ratle project gained momentum after 2023.

To be sure, Pakistan had protested against the Ratle and Kishenganga projects alleging that their designs violated the Indus waters treaty. In June 2024, a five-member Pakistan delegation and World Bank-appointed neutral expert Michel Lino inspected the Ratle power project at Drabshalla in Kishtwar.

Put together, Pakal Dul, Kiru, Kwar, and Ratle have a total capacity of 3,014 MW of hydel power. These projects are expected to generate over 10,541 million units (MU) of electricity annually. Jammu and Kashmir has an estimated hydropower potential of 18,000 MW, with 11,283 MW identified in the Chenab basin alone.

However, only 23.81% of the total identified capacity has been harnessed to date. Of the total potential, 11,283 MW is in the Chenab basin, 3,084 MW in the Jhelum basin and 500 MW in the Ravi basin.