Indo-Pak water wars: Stalemate on

New Delhi: The deadlock with Pakistan over the Baglihar hydroelectric project, in Kashmir’s Doda distrcit could be close to resolution.

Indian water experts say the World Bank appointed neutral expert is likely to deliver a verdict before long.

But experts believe that in the long term India and Pakistan must work out ways to jointly manage the waters of the Indus basin.

If all goes well this ambitious 400 MW power project will go on stream soon.

Indian officials are hopeful that the World Bank appointed neutral expert will give a verdict broadly favouring India.

Water resources expert, B G Verghese says "the judgement of the neutral expert on the Baglihar dam will be available soon and once matters are cleared, we can carry this forward."

But there's less optimism over the Kishanganga project on the Chenab River.

Ex-Secretary, Water Resources, Ramaswami Iyer, says, "Talks have been infructous so far. They have not been able to reach an agreement there is a transfer from one tributary to another."

"We are worried about the impact on Pakistan. I thought it was headed for a neutral expert but nothing materialised."

However Pakistan has been fairly hardline on the water issue more so because Kashmir is involved and the water crisis now gripping the country could make it even less amenable to a compromise.

Pakistan relies heavily on the July to September monsoons to fill its reservoirs and thus support its agriculture, which is the backbone of the economy.

But the winter rains were deficient by 40 per cent and global warming appears to have affected snowfall too with reports of glaciers receding in the Himalayas. Drought conditions are already widespread.

DG, Meteorology Dept, Pak Qamar-uz-Zaman Choudhary says, "Many of our available water resources are under severe stress presently and moderate drought conditions have already started developing in Baluchistan."

Pakistan is trying to overcome the problem with new dams but the Kalabagh dam had to be shelved because of opposition from Sindh and the North west Frontier, the Diamir Basha in the Northern Areas could take 10 years to build.

The Mangla and Tarbela, in the meantime dams are silting up.

Experts believe that Pakistan has mismanaged its water resources. Water logging and salinity is turning farmland in Punjab and Sindh into desert because there's no drainage.

They say that India could face similar problems before long and the only way out is joint management of the waters of the Indus Basin.

B G Verghese says, "I would suggest that we think of Indus 2 built on the foundations of Indus 1to jointly enhance the potential."

While India may not find that a difficult proposition to accept, it may conflict with Pakistan's stand on putting off every potential accord with India until its core problems over Kashmir are resolved.

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