Govt to revive Tulbul project in J&K after IWT suspension, says Union Power Minister

Srinagar, Jun 12 (PTI) Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Thursday said the government will revive the Tulbul project on the Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir as it no longer needs Pakistan's consent after the Centre put the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in abeyance.

The Union Minister also said India will "definitely" work on new hydro-electric projects in the wake of the suspension of the IWT with Pakistan following April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

"Before, whenever we had to undertake some work, we had to discuss that with them (Pakistan) and could not do anything without their consent.

"There was a project (Tulbul) under Wular Lake which was conceived in 1981. But, they did not give their consent and it was shelved. Now, when there is no need (for consent), we will restart the project and a DPR will be prepared soon," Khattar said here.

He was addressing a press conference on the completion of 11 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.

Asked if the government would start working on new hydro-electric projects following the suspension of the IWT, the Union minister said, "Yes, definitely." "Whatever they have to do, let them do that. We have given them a response and if they do anything again, they will get a response on the same pattern," he said when asked about Pakistan warning of building any projects.

The Tulbul project, which envisaged constructing a 439-ft-long and 40-ft-wide barrage with a storage capacity of 0.30 million-acre-feet (MAF) below the Wular Lake near Ningli in north Kashmir's Bandipora district to stabilise Jhelum's water level, was abandoned midway in 1987 after strong objections from Pakistan. PTI SSB MR MR