Why India cleared the Dulhasti hydel project on Chenab — and why Pakistan is protesting

India’s decision to advance the Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project on the Chenab river has emerged as a new flashpoint with Pakistan, coming months after New Delhi placed the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance. While India frames the move as a technically compliant, energy-security driven project in Jammu and Kashmir, Islamabad sees it as a direct challenge to a water-sharing arrangement it considers sacrosanct.

What has India approved, and where?

In December 2025, a key expert panel under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change cleared the 260-megawatt Dulhasti Stage-II Hydroelectric Power Project. The clearance, granted by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on hydel projects, allows the project developer to begin tendering and construction activities.

The project is planned in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir as an extension of the existing Dulhasti Stage-I power station, which has been operational since 2007 and is run by the NHPC. Stage-II is estimated to cost over ₹3,200 crore and will add two 130-MW units to the Chenab basin’s installed capacity.

Why the Chenab river is at the heart of the dispute

The Chenab is one of the three “western rivers” — along with the Indus and Jhelum — whose waters were allocated primarily to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960. While the treaty allows India limited, non-consumptive uses such as run-of-the-river hydropower projects, it also imposed tight design constraints and procedural obligations, including advance information-sharing with Pakistan.

India’s decision to place the treaty in abeyance in the aftermath of the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack has altered this framework. With the treaty suspended, Indian authorities argue they are no longer bound by earlier notification or data-sharing requirements — a position that Pakistan strongly contests.

Why Dulhasti Stage-II matters for India

Dulhasti Stage-II is not a standalone dam. It is designed to leverage the infrastructure of Stage-I, which already diverts Chenab waters through a long headrace tunnel to generate electricity before releasing them back into the river. Stage-II will draw water from the existing power station via a new tunnel and underground powerhouse, minimising the need for a fresh dam structure.

For India, the project serves multiple objectives:

• It strengthens peaking power supply to northern states and Union Territories.
• It helps unlock hydropower potential in a region where projects were long delayed by diplomatic and legal disputes.
• It signals a broader push to assert greater control over river resources in Jammu and Kashmir.

How the clearance fits into India’s wider Indus basin strategy

Since suspending the IWT, New Delhi has moved to fast-track several long-pending hydropower projects on the Chenab and its tributaries. These include Sawalkote, Ratle, Bursar, Pakal Dul, Kwar, Kiru, and Kirthai-I and II. The 1,856-MW Sawalkote project has even been designated a project of national importance.

Dulhasti Stage-II, therefore, is part of a coordinated effort to maximise hydropower generation in the Indus basin — a shift that reflects how water and energy security are increasingly intertwined in India’s strategic thinking.

Why Pakistan is objecting so strongly

Pakistan has reacted sharply, accusing India of violating the Indus Waters Treaty and “weaponising” water. Senior leaders, including Pakistan Peoples Party senator Sherry Rehman, have described the project as a grave breach of Pakistan’s recognised water rights.

Islamabad argues that the treaty cannot be unilaterally suspended and maintains that any Indian project on the Chenab should still be subject to treaty provisions. Pakistani media and officials have also linked the Dulhasti clearance to alleged recent fluctuations in river inflows, which they claim threaten agriculture during the Rabi sowing season.

Allegations of flow manipulation and regional anxiety

Beyond legal arguments, Pakistan has raised alarms about sudden holding and release of water upstream, saying this has led to erratic inflows in rivers like the Chenab and Jhelum. These claims are framed as risks to food security and rural livelihoods, and Islamabad has warned that any attempt to significantly alter river flows could escalate tensions further.

India has not publicly accepted these allegations, reiterating that its projects are run-of-the-river in nature and do not involve large-scale storage.

Environmental and long-term concerns

Even as the geopolitical contest sharpens, environmental questions loom large. The Chenab basin is already densely packed with hydropower projects, raising concerns about cumulative ecological impacts, altered river flows, and climate-change-driven variability in Himalayan rivers.

Reflecting this, the EAC’s clearance requires the developer to prepare a river conservation strategy, taking into account the combined impact of multiple projects in the basin — an acknowledgment that technical compliance alone may not address broader environmental stresses.

What this episode signals going forward

The Dulhasti Stage-II clearance illustrates how infrastructure decisions in Jammu and Kashmir are now deeply enmeshed with geopolitics. For India, the project represents long-delayed energy development and strategic assertion. For Pakistan, it reinforces fears of losing control over lifeline rivers.

As more Indus basin projects move ahead, the Chenab is likely to remain not just a river, but a barometer of how far India-Pakistan relations can drift — and how difficult it may be to separate water, security, and diplomacy in the years ahead.