Union Power Minister Manohar Lal on Thursday said the government would revive the Tulbul project on the Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir as Indus Water Treaty (IWT) has been put in abeyance.
"Before, whenever we had to undertake some work, we had to discuss that with them (Pakistan) and could not do anything without their consent,” Khattar said while addressing a press conference here.
He said there was a project (Tulbul) under Wular Lake which was conceived in 1981. “But, Pakistan 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
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 work on the Tulbul Navigation Barrage was started in the early 1980s, but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan, citing the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).
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 district to stabilise Jhelum's water level, was abandoned midway in 1987 after strong objections from Pakistan.