For dam design tweak, India may get to keep sluice gates where needed

Both on technical grounds and the interpretation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, India has been able to put its point of view across to neutral arbitrator Raymond Lafitte. Going by the last meeting in Washington in November, it is unlikely that the final decision will be very different from Lafitte’s July draft decision in Paris.

Lafitte has suggested two modifications: Decrease the height of the dam by 1.5 metres and raise the water inlet point for the turbines. According to technical experts, these amount to “cosmetic change” in the dam construction. In fact, India had proposed reduction in height in the bilateral discussions on since 1999 when the dam was first proposed. But Pakistan had turned it down then. Islamabad had appealed to the World Bank to appoint a neutral expert after talks between the two sides failed to resolve the issue.

After the draft determination ruled in favour of India on this, Pakistan stuck to its previous stand and came up with a fresh study to counter the rationale of the sluice gates. After the draft decision, both countries were allowed to send in written comments to Lafitte.

India was able to counter the study on technical grounds, pointing out that the dam would be useless if the sluice gates are not placed at the bottom of the dam. Pakistan is apprehensive that the sluice gates will give India the freedom to release and store water at will. Two, being at the bottom, these would allow India to store large quantity of water which, if released, could flood the Pakistan Panjab plains.

India has been citing the example of the Salal hydro-electric project on the Chenab, a few kilometres downstream from the proposed Baglihar, which was altered to keep Pakistan satisfied. Today, the project is redundant, prematurely, with its intake points silted, reducing power generation capacity to almost nothing. India does not want Baglihar to be a repeat of the Salal.

... contd.