India on Sunday said it could consider ‘‘practical modifications and changes’’ to the design of the 330-MW Kishanganga hydro-power project in J-K if Pakistan substantiated its objections that the project violated the Indus Waters Treaty provisions.After the first day of talks with his Pakistani counterpart Jamaat Ali Shah, among others, in Lahore on Sunday, Commissioner of the Permanent Indus Water Commission of India D.K. Mehta said the two sides have begun discussions on the project design with a view to resolving the problems bilaterally.‘‘I said we can consider practical modifications and changes to the design, provided Pakistan is able to substantiate its objections. These are still unsubstantiated objections. Our design is very much within the provisions of the (1960 Indus Water) Treaty,’’ Mehta said, adding, the talks would go on for two more days.Under the Indus Water Treaty, India has rights to the waters of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers while Pakistan has rights to the waters of the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. All the rivers flow from India to Pakistan.The Kishanganga project involves the diversion of water from one tributary of the Jhelum to another, which, according to India, is permissable under the treaty. Pakistan says it is not.Pakistan also has reservations about the design of the dam, said Jamaat Ali Shah. Pakistan’s plan for its own power station on the Jhelum would be affected if India built the Kishanganga, he said.As per plans, water of Kishanganga is to be diverted through a 27-km tunnel to Bandipore, where it will join the Wullar Lake, and then Jhelum. The J-K Government had earlier commissioned the project to a Swedish consortium. In 2000, it was handed over to the NHPC.The state is to acquire 7,703 kanals of cultivated land, 7,869 kanals of non-cultivated land and over 400 kanals of forest area. Five years ago, the SDM, Sopore, had even issued land acquisition notices to seven villages.J-K seeks compensation over Indus water treaty lossesNEW DELHI: Being a loser due to the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, J-K has demanded compensation from the Centre for the Rs. 1,200 crore recurring losses suffered by the state due to the accord which defines distribution of river waters between India and Pakistan.The state complains that development of the state, particularly in the field of power, has been hindered since the rights over all the three major rivers — Jhelum, Chenab and Indus — flowing through J-K have been given to Pakistan in the treaty. ‘‘We are suffering a loss worth Rs. 1,200 crore per year because of the treaty,’’ the state’s Power Minister Mohd Sharif Niaz said here. He said the Centre should compensate the electricity-starved state for this loss by giving it power from central projects like those of NHPC to meet its requirements. He suggested the Centre hand over the Salal hydro-electric project to the state as compensation. —PTI
