GILGIT, May 7: A committee of concerned citizens on Wednesday called for changing the name of Bhasha dam to Diamer dam as the project was being built within the territorial limits of Diamer district in the Northern Area.

This was said by Haji Ghandal Shah, chairman of the 'Bhasha Dam Naam Namanzoor Committee,' at a press conferencce here on Wednesday. Mr Shah, who said he was protecting rights of the people of the Northern Areas regarding potential damages that could result because of the construction of the proposed dam, said the reservoir would inundate 16 villages in the Diamer district, dislocating over 40,000 people.

Mr Shah accused the Northern Areas' chief executive and federal water and power minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Shepao of conspiring against the people by creating controversies regarding the demarcation of boundary line between NWFP and Northern Areas.

He accused the minister of water and power of trying to deprive the people of Northern Areas of their royalty rights, jobs and other benefits after the dam's construction, adding he had always been "manouvering in favour of the NWFP to usurp" these rights.

Stresing the need for changing the dam's name, he called for payment of royalty to the Northern Areas, provision of jobs to the local people, compensating damages at market rates and provision of free electricity to the local people, adding that historically the site of the dam had been part of the region which now constituted the Northern Areas.

He said that while they were in favour of the dam, a fresh survery of the dam's site should be carried out to remove all bottlenecks before initiating its construction. He reminded journalists that the Northern Areas Legislative Council had already passed a unanimous resolution calling for changing the name of the dam as Diamer Dam and and demanding rights regarding the dam.