NEW DELHI, June 23:
An international arbitration court is set to deliver its final verdict on the Indo-Pak dispute on Kishenganga power project after the two countries submitted hydrological data which will help the judges determine the minimum flow India will have to maintain in the river.
In February, the international court at The Hague had upheld India’s right to divert water for the power plant, but said New Delhi is bound to maintain a minimum flow of water to protect the agricultural interests of Pakistan.
Pakistan has claimed that the 330 mw project in Jammu and Kashmir would rob it of 15 per cent of its share of river waters. It also accused India of trying to divert the river in order to harm Pakistan’s Neelum-Jhelum hydro-electric project.
On May 17, 2010, Pakistan had moved for arbitration against India under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty 1960.
Highly-placed sources in the government said here that both India and Pakistan have submitted the data as demanded by the court headed by judge Stephen M Schwebel.
The two countries were to submit their data by June 19. But as Pakistan had demanded two days’ extension, India was also granted the same.
India submitted its data late on Friday night.
“Having concluded that the Treaty requires the preservation of a minimum flow of water downstream of the KHEP (Kishenganga HydroElectric Project), the Court determined that the data provided by the parties are insufficient to allow it to decide the precise amount of flow to be preserved. The Court therefore deferred its determination of the appropriate minimum flow to a Final Award,” a statement issued by the court of arbitration had said after its partial award was announced.
The court had directed India to provide figures on power generation at KHEP and environmental concerns from the dam site at Gurez to the Line of Control.
It had asked Pakistan to provide details on power generation at the Neelum-Jhelum HydroPower Project (NJHEP), agricultural uses of water downstream of the Line of Control to Nauseri and environmental concerns at and downstream of the Line of Control to Nauseri.
In its ‘partial award’, the International Court of Arbitration said KHEP constitutes a “run-of-river” plant under the Treaty, and India may accordingly divert water from the Kishenganga/Neelum river for power generation by the project.
The court also said that except in the case of an unforeseen emergency, the Treaty does not permit India reduction of water level in the reservoirs below ‘dead storage level’ located on the rivers allocated to Pakistan under the treaty.
The award does not appear to be heavily tilted to any side with the seven-member court in its unanimous judgement giving favourable verdict on a variety of issues for both the countries.
As defined in the treaty, “dead storage” is that portion of storage which is not used for operational purposes.
The Court of Arbitration said the partial award is “final” with respect to the matters decided by it. The award is binding on the two countries.
It clarified that the ruling does not apply to plants already in operation or under construction, whose design have been communicated by India and not objected to by Pakistan.
The award is regarding the legality of construction and operation of the hydro-electric project by India and the permissibility under the treaty of the depletion of the reservoirs of certain Indian hydro-electric plants below “dead storage level”.
On Pakistan’s demand to direct India to stop diverting water, the court observed that the treaty expressly permits the transfer of water by India from one tributary of the Jhelum to another for the purpose of generating hydro-electric power, subject to certain conditions.
It found that KHEP’s inter-tributary transfer is “necessary”, as required by the treaty, for the generation of hydroelectric power. (PTI)
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