Indus Basin Project

Indus Basin Project Points : indus basin project, history of indus basin irrigation system HISTORY OF INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM 1. Controlled year round irrigation began in 1859 with the completion of the Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) from Madhopur Head works (now in India) on Ravi River. Until that time, irrigation was undertaken through a network of inundation canals, which were functional only during periods of high river flow. These provided water for kharif (summer) crops and some soil moisture for rabi (winter) crops.

2. The last inundation canals were connected to weir controlled supplies in 1962 with the completion of Guddu Barrage on Indus River. UBDC was followed by Sirhind Canal from Rupar Headworks on Sutlej in 1872 (also in India) and Sidhnai Canal from Sidhnai Barrage on Ravi in 1886. The Lower Chenab from Khanki on Chenab in 1892, and Lower jhelum from Rasul on Jhelum in 1901 followed suit. Lower and Upper Swat, Kabul River and Paharpur Canals in NWFP were completed between 1885 to 1914.

3. By the turn of the century, it became apparent that the water resources of the individual rivers were not in proportion to the potential irrigable lands. Ravi River, serving a large area of Ban Doab, was deficient in supply while jhelum had a surplus. An innovative solution was developed in the form of the Triple Canal Project, constructed during 1907 -1915. The project linked the Jhelum, Chenab, and Ravi rivers, allowing a transfer of surplus jhelum and Chenab water to the Ravi. The Triple Canal Project as a land-mark in integrated interbasin water resources management and also provided the key concept for the resolution of the lndus Waters Dispute between India and Pakistan in 1960.

4. The Sutlej Valley Project, comprising of 4 barrages and 2 canals, was completed in 1933, resulting in the development of the unregulated flow resources of the Sutlej River and motivated planning for the Bhakra reservoir (now in India).

5. During the same period, the Sukkur Barrage and its system of 7 canals serving 2.95 million hectares of land in Lower Indus were completed. Haveli and Rangpur from Trimmu Headworks on Chenab in 1939 and Thai Canal from Kalabagh Headworks on Indus were completed in 1947. This comprised the system inherited by Pakistan at the time of its creation in 1947.

6. At Independence, the irrigation system, conceived originally as a who Ie was divided between India and Pakistan without regard to irrigated boundaries. This resulted in the creation of an international water dispute in 1948, which was finally resolved by the enforcement of Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 under aegis of the World Bank. The treaty assigned the three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India, with an estimated total mean annual flow of 33 million acre feet (MAF) and the three western rivers (Indus, 3helurn, Chenab) to Pakistan with a transfer of irrigation supplies from the western rivers to areas in Pakistan formerly served by the eastern rivers as well as some development potential to compensate for the perpetual loss of the eastern waters. The Indus Basin Project including Mangla Dam, 5 barrages, 1 syphon and 8 inter-river link canals, was completed during 1960-71, while Tarbela Dam started partial operation in 1975.76.

7. After partition, Kotri, Taunsa and Guddu Barrages were completed on the Indus River to provide controlled irrigation to areas previously served by inundation canals. Also, three additional inter-river link canals were built prior to the initiation of Indus Basin Project. THE INDUS WATER TREATY,TERMS & CONDITIONS World Bank, under the Treaty, does have an obligation to appoint a neutral expert, there is no legal mechanism whereby the findings of this expert can be implemented forcefully by the World Bank against the wishes of one of the Parties. Of course, the terms of the Treaty are binding on the signatories and, therefore, the decision of the neutral expert also falls, in this category; but then India has violated the terms of the Treaty itself— so, who will ensure that it accepts the findings of the neutral expert. Obviously India had done its homework on the Indus Water Treaty far better than us. By going for a neutral expert through the World Bank when the Baglihar Dam project is almost complete, we are not going to get much. Even if the expert rules in our favour, who will make India undo the Dam physically’? Certainly not the World Bank, which has quite correctly stated that it is not a guarantor of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.2 So it is strange to find the sovereign state of Pakistan having surrendered the rights to the use of its three Eastern rivers (Beas, Sutlej, Ravi) in return for the rights over the waters of the three Western rivers (Indus, jhelum, Chenab), with no international guarantees to stop India from eventually seeking to deny Pakistan access to all its river waters.

Although the issue came to a head in 2003 with Pakistan demanding that india stop the illegal construction of the’ Dam, Pakistan hs been raising the Baglihar issue with India since May 1992 when India first supplied it with information regarding the Dam.

Pakistan raised objections in August 1992 and since then the issue has been raised at the various meetings of the Indus Waters Commission (IWC) and through exchange of letters (see a chronology of events on the issue an the Annexure), But Indian intransigence on this Issue has resulted In the present near conflictual situation. India has also tried to enmesh the issue with the Issue of Kashmir getting access to sufficient electricity, whereas the two are not Linked at all.

The Indus Water Treaty does allow India the right to hydroelectric power generation from the Western rivers but only by runoff river installations without affecting the volume and direction of water What is clearly not allowed is building storage capacities on the Western rivers, which directly impede the flow of the waters (Article III (4)). In order to safeguard against Interference with the flows of those rivers by the upper riparian (India) plant designs have to conform to criteria laid down in Annexure D of the Treaty.

At the last meeting between Pakistan and India to resolve the issue, Pakistan sought satisfaction on five major points of concern to it:

• That the project design should be based on low level weir since the run of the river projects do not require a ‘high head’ of 475 feet.

• That the calculations of ‘pondage’ and ‘firm power’ In the design was Inconsistent with the Indus Water Treaty, while the level of ‘Intake’ In the project design was low and contravened the Treaty.

• According to the Treaty requirements, the design should be based on ‘un-gated’ spillways The Indian design was contrary to the Treaty requirements India had to also ensure that gates were at the highest level as provided for in the Treaty.

• The Treaty criteria need to be fulfilled for the provision of calculations and Justification of ’free board’ • Arrangements needed to be made to monitor and Inspect the site at the time of plugging of the low level tunnel.

The Indians maintained their posture that the Treaty did not restrict the construction of high dam and that the ‘pondage’, ‘firm power and the level of’ Intake end ‘free board’ being developed by India were premised on sound techno economic considerations In fact India evaded the Issue of whether all these points of concern raised by Pakistan were contrary to the Treaty, and re1isod to respond to Pakistani objections on the basic design Pakistan’s basic argument remains that the Treaty permitted construction only of a ‘run of the river plant’ on the Chenab and not a high dam of 475 feet.

In the light of the total lack of a satisfactory response from India on this crucial Baglihar Dam issue, Pakistan finally approached the World Bank to appoint a neutral expert, although many in Pakistan feel this is too late to do much good since India has announced that it will continue to complete the project.

Additionally, India has also shown intransigence on other related water issues coming under the purview of the Indus Waters Treaty. For instance, the Indians are pursuing the Kishanganga hydroelectric power project, as well as maintaining the stalemate on the Wullar Barrage. The former project is nearing completion with a 22-km tunnel to divert the waters of the Neelum river to Wullar Lake. The Neelum is an integral part of the river Jhelum — again one of the three Western rivers — and, therefore, the Kishan ganga project also contravenes the Indus Waters Treaty because it impacts the flow of the waters of the Western rivers to Pakistan. Not only will the flow of the water be affected but also Pakistan’s prior rights for its proposed 969 mw Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project in Azad Kashmir.

Indian lack of concern over observing international Treaty commitments has surfaced once again with an announcement of three more dam projects in Occupied Kashmir,4 The new projects arc again on the Western rivers — the Uri-II project is on the Jhelum river in Baramulla district, aid Pakal Dul and Burser, both on the Marusundar, a tributary of the Chenab river in Doda district. The Indian Ministry of Power has already approved these projects and it seems apparent that India may well be headed towards reneging on the Indus Water Treaty totally if Pakistan asserts its rights under the Treaty.

All in all, the Indus Waters issues not only highlight the very real security dimension of the Kashmir issue for Pakistan but also Indian efforts to pit the Kashmiris against Pakistan on the false claims that Pakistan wishes to deny the former access to hydroelectricity from the waters that flow through Kashmir. Unless Pakistan exposes Indian designs and the absurdity of its claims to the Kashmiris, Pakistan will fir itself not only moving towards desertification of the rich plains of the Punjab but also may find itself facing an increasingly hostile Kashmiri population across the LOC.

Key Facts
1.	No of major reservoirs	3
2.	No of barrages	16
3.	No of Headwork	2
4.	No of Inter-link Canals	12
5.	No of Canal system	44
6.	No of Watercourses	107,000
7.	Length of canals	56,073 km
8.	Length of watercourses	1,6 million km
9.	Average canal water diversions	104,7 MAF
10.	Ground water Abstractions	41.6 MAF
11.	No of Tube wells	>550,000
12.	Irrigated Area	36 million acres
13.	Average Escapage to the sea	39,4 MAF

Brief Detail of the Structures Over the Rivers Following are the Important rivers in Pakistan
1, River Indus
2. River Jhelum
3. River Chenab
4. River Ravi
5. River Sutlaj 1. River Indus This is the longest river of Pakistan. It originates from the North of Pakistan from the mountains and panes across the whole Pakistan and finally joins the Arabian Sea Following are the main points of river Indus.

2. Terbella Dam Terbella Dam is a large dam on the Indus River in Pakistan. It is located about 50 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, and a height of 485 ft (148 m) above the river bed and a reservoir size of 95 square miles (250 km²) makes it the Largest earth filled darn in the world. The dam was completed in 1974 and was designed to store water from the Indus River for irrigation and flood control, and for the generation of hydra-electric power.

2. Ghazi Barrage Downstream of Terbella Dam is Ghazi Barrage. Following are the main features of the barrage.
> Location 6 miles downstream of Terbella Dam near Ghazi village.
> Maximum Flood capacity 500,000 cusecs
> Design Discharge 35000 — 60000 cusecs
> Total Storage capacity 0.18 MAF

3. Jinnah Barrage This Barrage is on the downstream of Ghazi Barrage on river Indus. Following are the main features of the barrage.
> Location Kalabagh District Mianwali on river Indus
> Design Discharge 950.000 cusecs
> No. of Bays 42
> Total design withdrawal for the canals 7500 cusecs
> Width of each bay 60 ft

4. Chasma Barrage This barrage is on the downstream of Jinnah barrage. Following are the main features of the barrage.
>Location near Chasma, Distt. Mianwali on river Indus
> Design Discharge 11,00,000 cusecs
> No of Bays 52
> Width of each bay 60ft
> Total design withdrawal for the canals 26700 cusecs

5. Taunsa Barrage: Downstream of chasma Barrage is Taunsa Barrage. Following are the main points of Taunsa Barrage.
> LocatIon 18 miles downstream of Chasma Barrage
> Design Discharge 750,000 cusecs
> No of Bays 53
> Width of each bay 60 ft
> Total withdrawal for the canals 36,501 cusecs

5. Guddu Barrage: On downstream of Taunsa barrage is Guddu barrage. It is the first barrage on river Indus in Sindh. Five canals shoot from this barrage. Three on the right side and one on the left side of direction of flow. There is also onc proposed canal on the left side of direction of flow. This is a rainy canal. Following are the main features of this barrage.
> Location Downstream of Taunsa barrage
> Design Discharge 12,00,000 cusecs
> No. of Bays 64
> Width of each bay 60 ft
> Year of construction. 1962

Canals off taking from Guddu Barrage
> Ghotki canal
> Desert canal
6. Sukkur Barrage On downstream of Guddu Barrage there is Sukkur barrage. Seven canals shoot off from this barrage. Four on the left side of direction of flow and three on the right side. Following are the main points of this barrage.
> Location Downstream of Guddu barrage
> Design Discharge 15,00,000 cusecs
> No.ofbys 54
> Width of each bay 60 ft
> Total designed withdrawal for the canals 47530 cusecs 7. Kotri Barrage On downstream of Sukkur Barrage there is Kotri barrage. Four canals shoot off from this barrage. Three on the left side of direction of flow and one on the right side. Following are the main points of this barrage.

> Location Downstream of Sukkur barrage
> Design Discharge 875,000 cusecs
> No. of bys 44
> Width of each bay 60 ft
> Year of construction 1955 2. JHELUM RIVER The Jhelum is a large eastern tributary of the Indus. It drain9 areas west of Pir panjal separating Jammu and Kashmir. The Jhelum rises from the spring of Verinag, on the Northwestern side of Pirpanjal and flows in a direction parallel to the River Indus at an average elevation of 5500 ft.

1. Mangla Dam

The Mangla dam is the twelfth largest dam in the world. It was constructed in 1967 across the Jhelum river, about 100 miles southeast of the Pakistan capital, Islamabad in Mirpur Distt 2, Mangla Headwork On the downstream of Mangla darn there is mangla Headwork. Only one canal shoots from this Barrage or headwork in the left side of direction of’ flow, The name of the canal is > Upper Jhelum Canal 3. RasuJ Barage On the downstream of Mangla headwork there is Rasul Barrage. It is also a part of Indus Basin treaty and was con8tructcd in 1967. Following are the main points of this barrage.
> Location Downstream of Mangla barrage
> Design Discharge 850,000 cusecs
> No, of bays 4
> Width of each bay 60ft
> Year of construction 1967
> Total withdrawal for the canals 25,600 cusecs

3. CHNAB RIVER The river Chenab originates in the Kulu and Kangra districts of the Himachal Pardesh province of India. The hilly catchments area above maralla barrage is about 12,610 miles²

Maralla Barrage Maralla barrage is the first structure on river Chenab in Pakistan. It’s main features are as follows
> Location Chenab river near Sialkot
> Design Discharge 1,100,000 cusecs
> No. of bays 66
> Width of each bay 60 ft
> Year of construction 1968

One canal shoots from the Upper Chenab (UC) canal. It’s BRBD (Bambawala Ravi Badiyan Dipalpur). At some point UC canal joins river Ravi at upstream of Balluki. BRBD is taken below the River Ravi at RAW SYPHON. 2. Khanki Barrage: It is at the downstream of the Maralla Barrage on river Chenab. Its main features are as follows
> Location Downstream of Maralla near Wazirabad
> Design Discharge 800,000 cusces
> No. of Bays 6
> Width of each bay 441 to 515.25 ft
> Year of construction 1891

3. Oadirabad Barrage It is at the downstream of the Khanki barrage. The main features are as follows
> Location Downstream of Khanki at Chenab river
> Design Discharge 900,000 cusecs
> No. of bays 50
> Width of each bay 3373 ft
> Year of construction 1967

4. Trimmu Barrage This is situated at the downstream of Qadirabad barrage. At this barrage two rivers meet i.e. River jhelum and River Chenab The main features are as follows
> Location Downstream of Qadirabad near Jhung
> Design Discharge 645,000 cusecs
> No. of bays 37
> Width of each bay 60ft
> Year of construction 1939

5. Panjnad Barrage At the downstream of Trimmu barrage there is Panjnad Barrage. The main features are as follows
> Location Downstream of Trimmu barrage
> Design Discharge 700,000 cusees
> No. of bays 47
> Width of each bay 60ft
> Year of construction 1932
Canals off taking from Panjnad Barrage

4. RAVI RIVER The Ravi is the smallest of the five main eastern tributaries of the river Indus. It rises in the basin of Bangahal and drains the southern slopes of the Dhanladhar Madhpur is the last barrage on river Ravi in India as this river also originates from India. We have in Pakistan the first gauging station at this river Ravi at JASSAR BRIDGE.

The Ravi enters Pathankot at Chaundh and forms a boundary between India and Jammu and Kashmir for 23 miles. After passing through Gurdaspur district, it enters Shakargarh Tehsil of Sialkot in Pakistan.

1. Ravi Siphon It is a structure constructed across river Ravi which takes the water of Upper Chenab canal below the bed of river Ravi arid conveys it to the other side of the river. 2. Balluki Barrage This is the first barrage or the first main structure on river Ravi in Pakistan. The main features are as follows
> Location Downstream of Ravi siphon at Ravi river
> Design Discharge 225,000 cusecs
> No. of bays 35
> Width of each bay 40ft
> Year of construction 1965
> Total design withdrawal for the canals 25,400 cusecs

3. Sidhnai Barrage The main features are as follows
> location Downstream of Balluki barrage
> Design Discharge 150,000 cusecs
> No. of bays 15
> Width of each bay 40ft
> Year of construction 1965
> Total design withdrawal for the canals 14,105 cusecs 5. SUTLEJ RIVER This river originates in western Tibet in the Kailas mountain range, near the source of the indus, the Ganges and the Bhramaputra. It flows through the Panjal and Siwalik mountain ranges and then enters the plains of indian Punjab. The total length of the river is about 964 miles out of which only 329 miles run in Pakistan.

1. Sulemanki Bag This barrage is at the border of Pakistan and India. The main features are as follows.
> Location Border of India Pakistan at Sutlej river
> Design Discharge 325,000 cusecs
> No. of bays 24
Width of each bay 60ft
> Year of construction 1926
> Total design withdrawal for the canals 14,877 cusecs

2. Islam Headwork It is at the downstream of Sulemanki barrage on river Sutlej. The main features are as follows
> Location Downstream of Sulemanki barrage near Hasalpur
> Design Discharge 150,000 cusecs
> No. of bays 29
> Width of each bay 21 of 60 ft and remaining of 29 ft
> Year of construction 1926
> Total design withdrawal for the canals 14,877 cusecs