Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 13: An India and Pakistani joint team of Arbitration experts is visiting the dam site of the 330-MW Kishenganga hydro-power in Gurez near the Line of Control (LoC) in the North Kashmir’s frontier district of Bandipora tomorrow.
The team mostly hydraulic experts, will arrive in Gurez tomorrow morning in Air Force helicopters and will visit the dam site of the power house, the construction for which is yet to start.
The team will be in Gurez for about an hour during which they will inspect the site to monitor the implementation of the order of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague on the construction of the power house.
The team visited the site in May this year as part of the court order and tomorrow’s visit will be their 3rd and final visit.
Pakistan claimed that the project violates Indus Water Treaty between the two countries. The hydropower project is being built on Kishenganga river, which flows into Pakistan. It is likely to be completed in February, 2014.
Pakistan claimed that with the construction of the 330-MW Kishenganga hydropower, around 100 kilometers of river Neelam will dry up as water will be diverted to river Jhelum through Wullar Lake near Bandipur town.
Presently, Neelam /Kishenganga and Jhelum rivers join each other near Muzaffarabad at Domail in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. As a consequence of this 100 km diversion of the Neelum river, Neelum Valley in PoK is likely to face server water shortage, claims Pakistan.
Pakistan argued that such a diversion contravenes the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, which would compromise Pakistan’s rights over the river and reduce the flow of water into Pakistan significantly.
Pakistan had approached Court of Arbitration in Hague to stop India from constructing any permanent works on or above the Kishenganga/Neelum River bed at the Gurez site that may inhibit the restoration of the flow of the river to its natural channel.
The court had ordered that Pakistan and India arrange for periodic joint inspections of the dam site at Gurez in order to monitor the implementation of the Court’s Order.
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