Union Minister for Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the government was planning to build three dams in Uttarakhand to stop India’s unused share of river water from flowing to Pakistan, PTI reported.

Gadkari was speaking at an agricultural summit in Haryana, when he referred to the rivers India and Pakistan share according to the Indus Waters Treaty. The treaty, drawn up in September 1960 and brokered by the World Bank, lays down rules for how the water of the river Indus and its tributaries that flow in both the countries will be used.

Beas, Ravi and Sutlej belong mainly to India, while Indus, Chenab and Jhelum are to be taken care of by Pakistan. As Indus flows from India, the country is allowed to use 20% of its water for irrigation, generating power and transport.

“The issue of the three rivers whose water was given to Pakistan is a separate issue,” Gadkari said, according to The Indian Express. “But the water of our three rivers which is necessary for our development is also going to Pakistan,” he said, adding that the Indian government has decided to stop “our share of water from these three rivers and provide it to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan”.

Gadkari said this will be done by building three dams in Uttarakhand “to stop the India’s unutilised share of the river waters from flowing back to Pakistan”. “Water thus saved would be brought to Haryana through Yamuna to overcome shortage and feed the parched lands in the state,” he added.

Gadkari said the move was one of several steps the Centre planned to take to utilise water flowing into the ocean without being put to use.