Parliamentary committee released report on International Indus Water Treaty Agreement
Recently, the report on International Indus Water Treaty Agreement has been released by the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources. The report of the committee highlights the India-Pakistan and India-China water agreements.
India-Pakistan
- It is found that the relevant and important issues of the present times, such as climate change, global warming and environmental impact assessment etc. have not been taken into account.
- The Committee has suggested to the Government of India to re-negotiate the Indus Water Treaty (INT) with Pakistan.
- The WT was signed at the arbitration of the World Bank for the sharing of the waters of the Indus River Basin between India and Pakistan.
- The report recommended that the government should ensure optimum utilization of irrigation and hydroelectric potential of western rivers, including water storage permitted under WT.
Indo-China
- The Committee expressed apprehension that although the Chinese government’s ‘Run of the River’ projects (e.g., Zangmu) would not lead to water diversion, the possibility of releasing water to run turbines would cause some daily changes in downstream flow. Changes can happen. This may affect the flow of the Brahmaputra river.
- It has recommended continuous monitoring of Chinese activities by the Government of India, so that our national interests are not adversely affected by any major interference on the Brahmaputra.
- The Committee expressed satisfaction over the sharing of hydrological data on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers by China.
- At present, no Indus water treaty exists between India and China.
Source – The Hindu
