LAHORE, Jan 5: The Punjab Water Council (PWC) on Thursday condemned what it called “irresponsible behaviour of the ministry of water and power” saying it published the seven-member majority report of the Technical Committee on Water Resources as an “attachment rather than being part of the main report”. A press release of the council claimed it was irrational to consider the personal views of the chairman as the main report, which were more of a note of dissent and relegate the seven-member report to the status of an attachment.

“The strong anti-dam lobby is out to sabotage the entire process and trying to rig the basis of dam construction argument. The ministry tried to pull rug from under the president’s feet by leaking the chairman’s views as the report, and it had done so at the end of the president’s recent tour of Sindh which was aimed at mustering support for the dam,” the PWC said.

“If the ministry had to leak this report submitted in August 2005, it should have considered the actual seven-member report submitted in May 2005.”

The report, it said, had clearly identified Kalabagh and Bhasha as feasible sites and recommended that both dams should be started together. “The views of the chairman are his personal and go against the majority opinion of the technical committee.”