Pakistan’s water experts to inspect Himachal project

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A three-member Pakistani delegations of water experts reached Himachal Pradesh Sunday to inspect an upcoming hydropower project in the LahaulValley, an official said.

“The delegation, led by Pakistan’s Indus Waters Commissioner Mirza Asif Beg, will visit the 120-MW Miyar hydropower project near Udaipur town in Lahaul-Spiti district Monday,” Central Water Commission Regional Director P Dorje Gyamba, who is accompanying the team, told media on Sunday.

The project is being commissioned by private firm Moser Baer in the MiyarValley on a tributary of the ChandrabhagaRiver.

The Indian team accompanying the Pakistani delegation included Indus Water Commissioner K Vohra and senior joint commissioner PK Saxena.

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 with the support of the World Bank to settle water issues between the two neighbouring countries.

Official sources said the purpose of the Pakistani team’s visit is to ascertain whether any diversion has been made in the original flow of the Chandrabhaga, which later enters Jammu and Kashmir and there it’s known as the Chenab.

“We are hopeful that India will show some flexibility on (Pakistan’s) reservations over the building of new dams in India,” Baig said.

During the five-day trip, the delegation will also visit four “controversial sites” on the ChenabRiver where New Delhi is planning to construct new dams.

Reiterating that Pakistan’s objections over the design of Kishanganga dam were logical, Baig said some serious doubts pertaining to the controversial project – particularly the one on Neelum distributary point and other dams on the Chenab River had already been allayed.

 

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