NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated twohydroelectric projects in Jammu & Kashmir, indicating his government’spolitical will to respond to Pakistan’s use of terrorism against India withevery option at its command, including using in full India’s share of waterfrom western tributaries of the Indus, as possible leverage points, Timesof India has reported.

The inauguration of the 330-MW Kishanganga hydel station in Bandipore andlaying of the foundation of the 1,000-MW Pakul Dul project in Kishtwarexpress the government’s intent to follow through PM’s decision to reviewwater use within the ambit of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT) withPakistan.

The decision to maximise water use was taken after four Pakistan-backedmilitants attacked the Indian Army base at Uri in Jammu, killing 18soldiers on September 18, 2016. Blood and Water cannot flow together”, Modihad told a meeting of government officials on the Indus treaty 11 dayslater. The message to Pakistan was clear: stop backing terror attacks onIndia or lose the liberal water flow in excess of the treaty’s provisionsat present.

Soon after that decision, three hydel projects on Chenab and its tributary- Sawalkote (1,856 MW), Pakal Dul (1,000 MW) and Bursar (800 MW) – werefast-tracked. Building infrastructure on Indus, Chenab, Jhelum and theirtributaries is part of the Modi government’s plan to utilise India’s shareof water from western tributaries of the Indus.

Speeding up pending hydel projects is a key component of what India can doto use as much of Indus Water as it can under the water treaty, whichallows New Delhi to construct storage capacities on the western rivers upto 3.6 million acre feet (MAF) for various purpose, including domestic use.

Pakistan’s water supply is dwindling because of climate change, outdatedfarming techniques and an exploding population. A 2011 report by the USSenate Committee on Foreign Relations said India could use these projectsas a way to control Pakistan’s supplies from the Indus, seen as its jugularvein. “The cumulative effect of these projects could give India the abilityto store enough water to limit the supply to Pakistan at crucial moments inthe growing season,” the report said.

Most of the projects proposed on the Indus and its tributaries had beenheld up for at least a decade awaiting clearances. Sawalkote, which wascleared by a government-constituted environment committee in January 2017,was first given techno-economic approval in 1991. Pakal Dul was stuck inlitigation, which has now been resolved.