India’s big Indus move: 113-km canal plan to take surplus water to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan

India has started working towards a larger inter-basin water transfer plan to fully utilise its share of Indus river waters. According to a report by The Times of India, a feasibility study is underway for a 113-km canal that would divert surplus flows from Jammu & Kashmir to Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. This canal will link the Chenab with the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej system.

The project aims to optimise India’s share under the Indus Waters Treaty by ensuring better use of both eastern (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) and western (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) rivers, curbing excess flows into Pakistan.

Union home minister Amit Shah hinted at the larger plan during a BJP training session in Pachmarhi on Saturday. “Indus waters will be taken to Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar through canals within three years,” he said, adding that Pakistan will be left “craving for every drop of water.”


Sources told ToI that the proposed canal network will tie into 13 existing canal structures across J&K, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, eventually feeding into the Indira Gandhi canal system. “Redirecting surplus flows from J&K to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan could help balance regional water availability,” said Uttam Sinha, senior fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. “This internal reallocation would strengthen India’s water resilience in the face of climate variability and changing rainfall patterns.”

To facilitate this, the Centre is also considering doubling the length of the Ranbir canal from 60 km to 120 km, and fully utilising the Pratap canal, based on feasibility assessments.

The Ujh multipurpose project in Kathua district—pending for years—is also being revived. A second Ravi-Beas link below Ujh, planned earlier to stop excess Ravi water from entering Pakistan, will now be part of the larger canal initiative. It would involve a barrage and tunnel to transfer water to the Beas basin. The Ujh is a tributary of the Ravi.

These initiatives add to ongoing short-term measures such as desilting reservoirs at Baglihar and Salal hydro projects on the Chenab. India is also speeding up work on several hydroelectric plants — Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Ratle (850 MW), Kiru (624 MW), and Kwar (540 MW) — to better utilise its Indus system share, ToI reported.

With inputs from ToI