Centre approves Shahpurkandi Dam project on Ravi river in Punjab; move will minimise 'wastage' of water flowing into Pakistan

New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday approved the Shahpurkandi dam project on the Ravi river in Punjab, a move that will help arrest India’s share of water flowing into Pakistan, a statement said. For this, a central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore — for the irrigation component — will be provided over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23. [caption id=“attachment_5691691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 for sharing of Indus waters. According to the Treaty, India got the full rights for utilisation of waters of the three eastern rivers —Ravi, Beas and Satluj. “Some of the water of the Ravi river at present is going waste through the Madhopur Headworks downstream to Pakistan. Implementation of the project would minimise such wastage of water,” the statement said. In September, the Punjab and the Jammu and Kashmir governments signed an agreement to resume works on the Rs 2,793-crore Shahpurkandi project. Though the work on the project began in 2013, it was halted due to certain issues raised by Jammu and Kashmir government. The Punjab government also submitted a revised cost estimate of Rs 2,793.54 crore and requested the Centre to include the project in the prioritised list of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’ (PMKSY)/Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) projects. The project, when implemented, will enable the up-stream Ranjit Sagar Dam project power station to act as a peaking station, besides having its own generation capacity of 206 MW and irrigation benefit of 37,173-hectare to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.