New Delhi: Amid growing strain in Indo-Pakistan ties, the government is planning to fast-track four projects in the Indus river basin to increase the irrigation area in Jammu and Kashmir by nearly 205,000 acres [82,960 hectares], weeks after India decided to “exploit to the maximum” the water of Pakistan-controlled rivers as per Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month chaired a meeting to review the 56-year-old IWT in the aftermath of the Uri attack, asserting that “blood and water cannot flow together.”

Of these four projects, three — Tral Irrigation Project in Pulwama, Prakachik Khows Canal in Kargil, and restoration and modernisation of main Ravi Canal in Jammu’s Sambha and Kathua — are expected to be completed by this fiscal year. The fourth project, Rajpora Lift Irrigation, is planned to be completed by December 2019.

The first three projects will help irrigate around 145,000 acres [58,679 hectares] of land. The Rajpora Lift Irrigation is expected to help irrigate around 59,305 acres [23,999 hectares].

All these projects are expected to cost Rs117 crore [Rs1.17 billion, Dh64 million], for which money will be raised by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

“Until now, as per the J&K records, seven lakh [700,000] acres [283,279 hectares] of land is irrigated in the state. This is a very small number. So, the government is trying to complete work on these projects to increase the size of total irrigated area in the state,” sources said.

The sources said technically India can irrigate up to 1.3 million acres [526,091 hectares] of land in Jammu and Kashmir. This target, they said, can be achieved when optimum storage capacity is achieved in the state.

“The projects are being developed well within [the] rights of India and in no way will affect flow of water to Pakistan,” they said.

Taking a tough stand in the aftermath of Uri attack by Pakistan-based terrorists, the government had on September 27 decided to “exploit to the maximum” water of Pakistan- controlled three Western rivers — Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — as per the IWT at the review meeting headed by Modi.

It was also decided to set up an interministerial task force to go into the details and working of the Treaty with a “sense of urgency” apart from agreeing to review the “unilateral suspension” of 1987 Tulbul navigation project in 2007 by India.

However, sources maintained that the projects were part of [the] government’s efforts to irrigate larger swaths across the country by completing 99 small/medium irrigation projects under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKYS) and Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) and have nothing to do with the Uri incident and aggression along the line of control.

“These [projects] were already worked out. But we do want to bring optimum land under irrigated area as per the deadlines worked out,” they said.