SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has called for the resumption of the long-stalled Tulbul Navigation Barrage project in North Kashmir, citing the recent “temporary suspension” of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as an opportunity to revisit key water infrastructure initiatives.
The Wular lake in North Kashmir. The civil works you see in the video is the Tulbul Navigation Barrage. It was started in the early 1980s but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan citing the Indus Water Treaty. Now that the IWT has been “temporarily suspended” I… pic.twitter.com/MQbGSXJKvq
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 15, 2025
In a post on social media platform X, Abdullah highlighted the strategic and developmental importance of the Tulbul project near Wular Lake. “The Wular Lake in North Kashmir. The civil works you see in the video is the Tulbul Navigation Barrage. It was started in the early 1980s but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan citing the Indus Waters Treaty,” he wrote.
He added that the current pause in the treaty’s implementation might pave the way for restarting the project. “Now that the IWT has been ‘temporarily suspended,’ I wonder if we will be able to resume the project. It will give us the advantage of allowing us to use the Jhelum for navigation,” Abdullah stated.
The Chief Minister also noted that reviving the barrage would significantly aid power generation in downstream hydroelectric projects, especially during the winter months when water flow is lowest.
The Tulbul Navigation Project, aimed at regulating water flow from Wular Lake into the Jhelum River, was originally conceived as a vital inland navigation and irrigation initiative. However, it has remained stalled for decades due to objections from Pakistan under the terms of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
