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Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Jitendra Singh, reviewed the status and phased implementation roadmap of the Ujh Multipurpose Project in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The project is being implemented by WAPCOS Limited, a Government of India undertaking under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, and will begin in phases while acquisition of the remaining land proceeds simultaneously.
Located on the Ujh, a main tributary of the Ravi, the project is designed to generate about 186 MW to 212 MW of electricity.
It is expected to irrigate nearly 90,000 hectares across Kathua and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir and Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab, and to supply drinking and industrial water to Kathua district.
The project also carries a border-management purpose, backed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, of restricting unregulated water flows and closing vulnerable cross-border infiltration routes along the riverbed.
The Ujh rises in the Kailash mountains close to the Bhaderwah range at an altitude of about 4,300 metres, flows roughly 100 km through Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir, and joins the Ravi at Nainkot inside Pakistan - which is why an unregulated Ujh means Indian-allocated water crossing the border unused. The Ravi itself rises at Bara Bhangal in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, formed by the confluence of the Bhadal and Tant Gari streams, and runs about 725 km through Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. Downstream on the Ravi lie two structures the release refers to: the Ranjit Sagar Dam, also called the Thein Dam, completed in 2001, and below it the Shahpurkandi Dam in Pathankot district of Punjab, declared a national project in 2008. The command area of the Ujh project spans the Kathua-Samba belt of Jammu and the Pathankot-Gurdaspur belt of Punjab, on both sides of the inter-State boundary.
Signed on 19 September 1960 at Karachi between India and Pakistan and brokered by the World Bank. It allocated the eastern rivers - Ravi, Beas and Sutlej - to India and the western rivers - Indus, Jhelum and Chenab - to Pakistan. Because India built little storage on the Ravi system for decades, a share of its own allocated water continued to flow across the border unused, which is the argument the Ujh and Shahpurkandi projects rest on. India placed the Treaty in abeyance in April 2025 following the Pahalgam terror attack
The implementing agency for the Ujh Multipurpose Project. A Miniratna Category-I public sector enterprise under the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, it provides consultancy and EPC services in water, power and infrastructure. It was incorporated on 26 June 1969 as Water and Power Development Consultancy Services (India) Limited
The parent ministry for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, and for drinking water and sanitation; WAPCOS sits under its Department of Water Resources
Backs the project for its border-management value - regulating flows along a riverbed that has served as an infiltration route
| Aspect | Ujh Multipurpose Project | Shahpurkandi Dam | Ranjit Sagar (Thein) Dam |
|---|---|---|---|
| River | Ujh, a main tributary of the Ravi | Ravi | Ravi |
| Location | Kathua district, Jammu and Kashmir | Pathankot district, Punjab | On the Punjab-Jammu and Kashmir border |
| Status | Revived in 2026, phased implementation under way | Revived in 2019, almost complete | Completed in 2001 |
| Power design | About 186 MW to 212 MW | 206 MW | Hydroelectric project of the Punjab government |
| Chief purpose | Irrigation for about 90,000 hectares, drinking and industrial water, power, border management | Regulating releases downstream of Ranjit Sagar for irrigation and power | Storage and hydropower on the Ravi |
The Ujh and Shahpurkandi projects are about using India's already-allocated eastern-river share. Questions about the Treaty typically test the east-west river split and the World Bank's role, and now its abeyance since April 2025
A water project backed by the Home Ministry for its infiltration-control value is a good illustration of dual-use border infrastructure, alongside the Vibrant Villages Programme and border road development
Ravi, Beas and Sutlej are eastern; Indus, Jhelum and Chenab western. The Ujh feeding the Ravi, not the Chenab, is exactly the kind of tributary detail Prelims uses to separate candidates
Starting construction while acquisition continues is a governance response to the standard cause of Indian infrastructure delay, and connects to the wider debate on land acquisition law and project clearances
GS Paper 1 > Geography > Water Resources; GS Paper 3 > Internal Security > Border Management
General Awareness > Indian Geography, Rivers and Dams
General Awareness > Border Management and National Security
Indus Waters Treaty and Indian river-dam pairings are recurring UPSC Prelims and SSC geography topics, and their frequency has risen since the Treaty was held in abeyance
A river valley project designed to deliver several benefits at once - here irrigation, hydropower, drinking water and industrial water supply
Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960
Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, allocated to Pakistan under the same Treaty, with limited non-consumptive use permitted to India
Miniratna Category-I public sector consultancy and EPC organisation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, incorporated on 26 June 1969