LAHORE: A three-member delegation of Pakistani water experts reached India through Wagha border crossing on Sunday to inspect hydro-power projects being undertaken by India at Chenab Basin.

Led by Pakistan’s Indus Water Commissioner Syed Mehr Ali Shah, the delegation will visit Pakal Dul, Lower Kalnai, Ratle and other projects on the Chenab during its six-day stay in India. It will return on Feb 1.

The visit is being undertaken as an obligation under the Indus Waters Treaty signed between Pakistan and India back in 1960.

The agreement mandates the water commissioners of Pakistan and India to inspect sites and works on both sides of the Indus basin in a block of five years.

At least 118 visits on both the sides have been undertaken since signing of the treaty.

The first visit of the current five-year block, which ends in March 2020, was kept pending by India. Earlier, it was scheduled in October 2018 but New Delhi delayed it on the excuse of local body elections in occupied Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2019