Baglihar dam report to be binding on both: experts
By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 4: A Swiss expert, mandated by the World Bank to prepare a report on the controversial Baglihar dam in Kashmir, said on Tuesday that his conclusions would be binding on India and Pakistan.
Winding up a detailed inspection of the 450-mw Baglihar hydro-electric power project, the head of the World Bank-appointed team, Raymond Lafitte, said he had studied the project minutely.
He said he would present some preliminary ideas in a report to be made public in New Delhi on Friday.
“We have inspected the Baglihar project and studied in depth objections raised by Pakistan and counter-points of India,” the Swiss neutral expert told reporters in Jammu.
“I have minutely studied technical details of the project and I will submit my report to the World Bank,” he was quoted by the Pres trust of India as saying in Jammu. “My report would be binding on both India and Pakistan.”
The team carried out hectic two-day inspection of the Baglihar project in Doda district and held extensive discussions with officials concerned at Chanderkote site.
Mr Lafitte also studied the power house, dam design and course of river Chenab.
“We took into consideration points of view of both the countries while inspecting the dam design and peripheral structures,” Mr Lafitte said before the team left for New Delhi.
Asked if the Baglihar issue would have an impact on the India-Pakistan peace process, he said: “I am not a politician”.
Besides Mr Lafitte, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and two other Swiss neutral experts, the team comprised six Pakistani and four Indian officials.
