NEW DELHI, April 18: In an effort to end the long-standing dispute over the Kishanganga project, India will now propose to Pakistan modifications in the 330 MW hydro-electric power plant in Jammu and Kashmir to convert it into a run-of-the-river project, instead of generating electricity from water stored in a dam.

A decision by the union cabinet on Tuesday to convert the project into a run-of-the-river scheme comes in the wake of Pakistan’s objection to the storage of 220 million cubic metres of Indus River water in a reservoir and production of electricity.

“This has been done to end objections raised by Pakistan that India could not store water (under Annexure E of the Indus Water Treaty). Now we will propose that this will be a run-of-the-river scheme (under Annexure D of the treaty),” Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here.

While New Delhi continues to contend that it has the right to construct reservoirs on tributaries of the Indus and has not violated the treaty, the cabinet decision was aimed at ending the dispute over the project, which was originally proposed in 1994.

As part of the prime minister’s reconstruction plan for Jammu and Kashmir, the union cabinet also approved relaxations in the existing guidelines of a scheme to provide employment to people living below the poverty line. —Online