Water Aggression: India accelerates project to link River Chenab with Beas and Ravi
New Delhi: In a provocative move aimed at depriving Pakistan of its water resources, India has accelerated work on a controversial project to link the River Chenab with the Beas and Ravi rivers.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Engineer Arshad H. Abbasi, renowned Pakistani water resources expert has issued a grave warning about the future of the River Chenab in his latest report. He urged the Government of Pakistan to immediately take notice of India’s efforts to divert Chenab’s flow through the proposed Gyspa Dam, connecting it to the Beas River.
The project was originally funded in India’s 2011–2012 budget and involves the construction of a 23-kilometre-long concrete tunnel intended to link the Chenab to the Solang Nallah, which eventually flows into the Ravi River. This connection would allow India to divert water towards the Ranjit Sagar Dam.
Chenab—often referred to as the “Moon River”—flows through only 130 kilometres of Himachal Pradesh, which accounts for a mere 7,500 square kilometres of its total 61,000 square kilometre basin. Despite this, a staggering 49 hydropower projects are being built on the river in Himachal Pradesh, putting the river under severe ecological and geopolitical threat.
India has already completed the 9.7-kilometre-long Bagro Nala tunnel, tand is nearing completion of the 14.2-kilometre-long Zoji La tunnel in the 12,000-foot-high mountains.
Engineer Abbasi has expressed serious concerns that this tunnelling expertise could be used to link Chenab with Beas and Ravi, thereby diverting its waters towards the Ranjit Sagar Dam—constructed by India on the Ravi River in 2001.
Water experts and regional observers have termed this project a form of “hydrological warfare” by India, aimed at undermining Pakistan’s water security and violating the spirit of the Indus Waters Treaty.
