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Salal Dam
Salal Dam (Hindi: सलाल बाँध Salāl Bāndh), also known as Salal Hydroelectric Power Station, is a run-of-the-river hydropower project on the Chenab River in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. It was the first hydropower project built by India in Jammu and Kashmir under the Indus Water Treaty regime. After having reached a bilateral agreement with Pakistan in 1978, with significant concessions made to Pakistan in the design of the dam, reducing its height, eliminating operating pool, and plugging the under-sluices meant for sediment management, India completed the project in 1987. The concessions made in the interest of bilateralism damaged the long-term sustainability of the dam, which silted up in five years. It ran at 57% capacity factor. In May 2025, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, and de-silted the reservoir restoring some of the plant's power generation capacity.
The project is located on the Chenab River near the Salal village in the Reasi District, a few kilometres south of Matlot where the river turns to a southerly course. Pakistan's Marala Headworks is 72 km (45 mi) downstream, from where the Marala–Ravi Link Canal and the Upper Chenab Canal carry water to various parts of Pakistani Punjab.
The Salal project was conceived in 1920. Feasibility studies on the project commenced in 1961 by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and a project design was readied by 1968. Construction was started in 1970 by the Central Hydroelectric Project Control Board (under the Government of India's Ministry of Irrigation and Power). The design of the project contained a two-stage powerhouse generating 690 MW power making use of the head created by the dam.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the Chenab River is allocated to Pakistan for exploitation (one of the 'Western Rivers' – Indus, Jhelum and Chenab). India has rights to use the river for "non-consumptive" uses such as power generation. India is obliged under the treaty to inform Pakistan of its intent to build a project six months prior to construction and take into account any concerns raised by the latter.
Since Pakistan lost the three eastern rivers to India by the treaty, its dependence on the Chenab river increased. It viewed the Salal project with great concern. Even limited storage in a relatively low dam upstream was viewed as a flood risk, even a threat, whereby India could flood Pakistan's farm lands by a sudden release of water. Equally, India could hold back water in its reservoir starving them of water. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, foreign minister and later prime minister, argued that the dam could be used strategically as an instrument of war to bog down Pakistan's armour. After the two wars of 1965 and 1971, all such theories were easily believable.
During the negotiations, Pakistan raised technical objections to the design and capacity of the dam. It argued that the 40-foot gates on the spillways gave the dam more storage than allowed by the treaty. It also argued that the under-sluices included for sediment clearing were not permitted under the treaty. Indians argued that the flood risk that Pakistanis expressed was unreasonable. Any intention on India's part to flood Pakistan would involve causing much more damage to its own territory. In the face of Pakistan's unwillingness to relent, the Indian negotiators wanted to take it to arbitration by a neutral expert, as provided for in the treaty.
However, after signing the 1972 Simla Agreement with Pakistan, India wanted to steer the relations towards bilateralism. Its foreign policy establishment ruled out going to a neutral expert. In further bilateral talks in October 1976, India made significant concessions in the dam's height and other issues. An agreement was reached in 1977, but deferred till after the elections in Pakistan. Soon afterwards, change of government occurred in both India and Pakistan, but the understanding survived.
A formal agreement was signed in Delhi on 12 April 1978 by Indian foreign minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan's foreign secretary Agha Shahi. The height of spillway gates was reduced from 40 ft to 30 ft. The under-sluices designed for sediment management were permanently plugged. The agreement was hailed as a triumph of bilateralism, facilitating an atmosphere of trust and confidence between the two countries. But the agreement also seriously damaged the sustainability of the dam and the Indian engineers viewed it as too high a price to pay for bilateralism.
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Salal Dam
Salal Dam (Hindi: सलाल बाँध Salāl Bāndh), also known as Salal Hydroelectric Power Station, is a run-of-the-river hydropower project on the Chenab River in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. It was the first hydropower project built by India in Jammu and Kashmir under the Indus Water Treaty regime. After having reached a bilateral agreement with Pakistan in 1978, with significant concessions made to Pakistan in the design of the dam, reducing its height, eliminating operating pool, and plugging the under-sluices meant for sediment management, India completed the project in 1987. The concessions made in the interest of bilateralism damaged the long-term sustainability of the dam, which silted up in five years. It ran at 57% capacity factor. In May 2025, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, and de-silted the reservoir restoring some of the plant's power generation capacity.
The project is located on the Chenab River near the Salal village in the Reasi District, a few kilometres south of Matlot where the river turns to a southerly course. Pakistan's Marala Headworks is 72 km (45 mi) downstream, from where the Marala–Ravi Link Canal and the Upper Chenab Canal carry water to various parts of Pakistani Punjab.
The Salal project was conceived in 1920. Feasibility studies on the project commenced in 1961 by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and a project design was readied by 1968. Construction was started in 1970 by the Central Hydroelectric Project Control Board (under the Government of India's Ministry of Irrigation and Power). The design of the project contained a two-stage powerhouse generating 690 MW power making use of the head created by the dam.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the Chenab River is allocated to Pakistan for exploitation (one of the 'Western Rivers' – Indus, Jhelum and Chenab). India has rights to use the river for "non-consumptive" uses such as power generation. India is obliged under the treaty to inform Pakistan of its intent to build a project six months prior to construction and take into account any concerns raised by the latter.
Since Pakistan lost the three eastern rivers to India by the treaty, its dependence on the Chenab river increased. It viewed the Salal project with great concern. Even limited storage in a relatively low dam upstream was viewed as a flood risk, even a threat, whereby India could flood Pakistan's farm lands by a sudden release of water. Equally, India could hold back water in its reservoir starving them of water. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, foreign minister and later prime minister, argued that the dam could be used strategically as an instrument of war to bog down Pakistan's armour. After the two wars of 1965 and 1971, all such theories were easily believable.
During the negotiations, Pakistan raised technical objections to the design and capacity of the dam. It argued that the 40-foot gates on the spillways gave the dam more storage than allowed by the treaty. It also argued that the under-sluices included for sediment clearing were not permitted under the treaty. Indians argued that the flood risk that Pakistanis expressed was unreasonable. Any intention on India's part to flood Pakistan would involve causing much more damage to its own territory. In the face of Pakistan's unwillingness to relent, the Indian negotiators wanted to take it to arbitration by a neutral expert, as provided for in the treaty.
However, after signing the 1972 Simla Agreement with Pakistan, India wanted to steer the relations towards bilateralism. Its foreign policy establishment ruled out going to a neutral expert. In further bilateral talks in October 1976, India made significant concessions in the dam's height and other issues. An agreement was reached in 1977, but deferred till after the elections in Pakistan. Soon afterwards, change of government occurred in both India and Pakistan, but the understanding survived.
A formal agreement was signed in Delhi on 12 April 1978 by Indian foreign minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan's foreign secretary Agha Shahi. The height of spillway gates was reduced from 40 ft to 30 ft. The under-sluices designed for sediment management were permanently plugged. The agreement was hailed as a triumph of bilateralism, facilitating an atmosphere of trust and confidence between the two countries. But the agreement also seriously damaged the sustainability of the dam and the Indian engineers viewed it as too high a price to pay for bilateralism.