Tulbul Navigation Project

The Government of India is moving ahead with plans to revive the long-stalled Tulbul Navigation Project, as part of a broader strategy to optimise the country’s share of water from the western rivers under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

• This comes in the backdrop of the IWT being put “under abeyance” following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, after which India began reassessing its water-sharing arrangements with Pakistan.
• Under the IWT, India has limited rights over the western rivers — the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — which primarily flow into Pakistan.
• The Tulbul project, which envisages constructing a 439-ft long and 40-ft wide barrage with a storage capacity of 0.30 million acre feet below the Wular Lake near Ningli to stabilise Jhelum’s water level, was abandoned midway in 1987 after strong objections from Pakistan.