India has, for the first time since their commissioning decades ago, successfully flushed out sediment from three dams in J&K. Additionally, bids have been invited for extensive maintenance work on several other dams – such as desilting and structural repairs – to enhance power generation.
Highly place sources said that the maintenance and overhaul of dams by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Ltd, India’s largest state-owned hydropower company, is part of a broader initiative being carried out independently of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan. This move follows the suspension of the treaty by India after the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, on April 22.
Before putting the water-sharing agreement on hold, India had been urging Pakistan to revisit the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty, arguing that natural changes within the Indus river basin had reduced water availability, especially in light of the country’s growing population.
Previously, sediment flushing from dams – once restricted by the treaty’s provisions was typically allowed only once a year in August.
An official cited in the report stated that flushing has been successfully completed at the Salal (690 MW), Baglihar (900 MW), and Dulhasti (390 MW) dams on the Chenab River, leading to a notable improvement in their operational efficiency.
The Baglihar project has been substantially flushed and will be desilted for the first time since being built in 2008.
“When desilting for all the projects will be complete, power production will go up to near installed capacity because efficiency will be higher. Lack of adequate maintenance also led to a lot of wastage of resources,” an official said.
All these activities were difficult to carry out earlier and Pakistan had to be notified prior to undertaking the work, a official mentioned. “The work proposed to be done for which bids have been invited is expected to be completed by the end of this year.”
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his first address to nation after Operation Sindoor, Water and blood cannot flow together, India’s counter strike in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
