Following the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan, India is accelerating its plans to utilize the waters from the Indus river system, specifically the Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus rivers. The immediate trigger for this move was the terror attack in Pahalgam. Amidst heightened tensions, India is now conceiving a larger plan for inter-basin water transfers by initiating a feasibility study for constructing a 113 km-long canal to redirect surplus flows from Jammu & Kashmir to Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.

The proposed canal, linking Chenab with Ravi-Beas-Sutlej, will ensure the full utilization of the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej) and help India use its entire allocated share in the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab) under the Indus Waters Treaty, effectively stopping additional water flow to Pakistan.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has stated that Indus waters will be taken to Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar through canals within three years, benefiting a large area of the country with improved irrigation facilities, while Pakistan will face water scarcity.

The Chenab-Ravi-Beas-Sutlej link is being designed to connect existing canal structures at 13 locations across Jammu, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, bringing water to the Indira Gandhi canal (Sutlej-Beas). This ambitious project aims to channel 15-20 million acre-feet (MAF) of water from the Chenab to the Indian states.

In addition to this mega canal project, the Centre will revive the Ujh multipurpose project in J&K's Kathua, which has been pending for many years. This project will create a storage of about 781 million cubic meters of water on the Ujh River, a tributary of the Ravi, for irrigation and power generation in India, providing irrigation benefits of 31,380 hectares in Kathua, Hiranagar, and Samba districts of J&K, and water for Kathua district.

India is also planning to expand the Ranbir Canal on the Chenab river, extending it from 60 kilometers to 120 kilometers. This expansion will increase India's capacity to divert water from 40 cubic meters per second to 150 cubic meters per second, significantly reducing the flow of water into Pakistan's Punjab province, a key agricultural region.

The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allocated the waters of six rivers between India and Pakistan. India controls the eastern rivers (Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi), while Pakistan has rights over the western rivers (Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum). Under the treaty, India is allowed limited use of the western rivers for irrigation and hydropower projects, provided it does not significantly affect the water flow to Pakistan. However, following the Pahalgam attack, India suspended its adherence to the treaty, citing Pakistan's involvement in cross-border terrorism.

India's decision to expedite these projects comes after an inter-ministerial meeting involving officials from the home ministry, external affairs, power, and Jal Shakti ministries. Since the treaty is currently suspended, India is not obligated to share water flow data or project details with Pakistan, facilitating the flushing of sediments from reservoirs of existing hydropower projects to augment their storage capacities.

The government has also identified irrigation and power generation as key developmental priorities in the Indus river basin, covering the western rivers in Jammu and Kashmir and nearby states, aiming to utilize additional water resources in a time-bound manner. The power ministry has been asked to speed up works on four under-construction hydropower projects and obtain clearances for another three, consulting with experts.

While these projects face technical, environmental, and political constraints, India is also exploring innovative measures such as managed aquifer recharge to safeguard its water rights. CGWB has estimated that Punjab has approximately 50 billion cubic meters of aquifer space available for recharge, and excess water from the three eastern rivers can be channeled into the aquifers of Punjab.