Union Minister Gadkari simply reiterated diverting India’s share of Indus water going to Pakistan, clarifies Water Resources Ministry

New Delhi [India], Feb 21 (ANI): Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari was simply reiterating the need for “diverting India’s share of Indus water which was going to Pakistan,” a spokesperson of the ministry clarified on Thursday.
Referring to a tweet about Indus treaty, the spokesperson said: “This is not a new decision. Mantri ji is simply reiterating what he has always said. He is talking about diverting India’s share of Indus water, which was going to Pakistan, and he has always been saying this as you all know.”
Speaking at an event in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday, Gadkari reiterated that India has full rights under the Indus Water Treaty to divert the water of three rivers to the Yamuna.
 The bilateral treaty, signed in 1960, governs the rights of India and Pakistan on three of six common rivers, respectively. As per the agreement, India has full rights over Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers while Pakistan has full rights over Jhelum, Chenab, and Indus.
“The water of three rivers over which India has rights is going to Pakistan. We have projects after which the water of these rivers will be diverted to the Yamuna. There will be more water in the Yamuna,” said Gadkari.
Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh too said here on Thursday that the construction of the dam has started in Shahpur, which will be completed in three years. “Once the dam is completed, the problem of irrigation and electricity will not be in the areas of Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, and Gurdaspur in Punjab,” he said.
“In the absence of this dam, the entire water of India’s share from river Ravi was flowing into Pakistan. Whether it has been done inadvertently or deliberately by the earlier Congress governments is something that the nation would like to know from them,” he said.
“Similarly, another project on Ujh river in Kathua could have been started several decades ago. Now, the detailed project report (DPR) is ready. The construction is about to start,” he said, adding “our water continues to go to Pakistan.”
In view the terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama district in south Kashmir in which as many as 40 jawans were killed, the pressure is mounting on the Centre to divert India’s legitimate water going to Pakistan. A suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror outfit—Jaish-e-Mohammad—had rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the convoy, leading the deadliest ever terror attack in the Valley state of India. (ANI)