116th meeting of the “Permanent Indus Commission”

116th meeting of the “Permanent Indus Commission

India and Pakistan held the 116th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) on water sharing issues and address each other’s concerns with the Indus Water Treaty.

What is Permanent Indus Commission (PIC)?

The Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) is a bilateral commission consisting of officials from India and Pakistan, created to implement and manage the goals and objectives outlined in the Indus Waters Treaty. The PIC, through a working mechanism of meetings and processes, regulates the use of water and the operation of the dams over the three shared rivers.

What is purpose of Permanent Indus Commission (PIC)?

The Commission was created to implement and manage the goals and objectives and outlines of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). The main focus of the Commission is to manage and coordinate the use of the rivers and their tributaries flowing in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Sindh. The commission has a very important role when it comes to the development projects. They allow only those projects that do not infringe on either country's water rights under the treaty.

What are the Functions of the Permanent Indus Commission?

To help facilitate smoother and greater implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty, the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) shall continue to exist. The main functions of the commission are-

• To establish and promote cooperative arrangements for the Treaty implementation;
• Furnishing or exchange of information or data provided in the Treaty;
• Promote cooperation between the Parties in the development of the waters of the Indus system
• Examine and resolve any question in the agreement that arises between the parties.

116th Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) meeting

The dispute over the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has acquired importance after the Uri attack. Pakistan is now approaching the World Bank to annul this treaty.

The PIC will discuss Pakistan’s objections about two Indian projects:

• Pakal Dul Hydro Electric Project (1,000 MW):India is building the project on river Marusudar, a tributary of the Chenab. The project is located in Kishtwar district of J&K.
• Lower Kalnai Hydro Electric Project:India is developing it on the River Chenab.

Further, routine issues such as flood data exchange mechanisms are also expected to be discussed during the meeting.

About Indus Water Treaty

India and Pakistan signed a treaty for sharing of river waters of the Indus drainage system in 1960. The agreement was mediated by the World Bank and named as the Indus Waters Treaty.

Under this treaty, Pakistan got a favourable division of waters of the six rivers of the Indus system. Pakistan was given rivers that had greater volumes of flowing water.

India was allocated the waters of the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi the three less voluminous eastern tributaries of the Indus. More voluminous rivers, the Indus and its western tributaries, the Jhelum and Chenab went to Pakistan.

The distribution of river waters gave India a share of about 20 per cent or about 3.3 crore of 16.8 crore acre-feet of estimated water in the Indus system. India has never utilised full share of the Indus waters allocated to it.