ISLAMABAD, May 1: Chairman of the Technical Committee on Water Resources A.N.G. Abbasi has sought more time to finalize and submit a report on the issue of building large dams, it is learnt. Informed sources told Dawn on Sunday that the government had given Mr Abbasi the deadline of April 30 for submitting the report so that a decision could be taken about big dams.

Mr Abbasi, said the sources, met federal Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi on Saturday and sought some more time. He informed the minister that he required time to fine-tune the report.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had directed the ministry of water and power in the first week of April to ask Mr Abbasi to submit his report before April 30. The ministry had also been asked to provide all the relevant documents and minutes of the committee meetings to the PM secretariat.

Accordingly, the ministry had written to the TCWR chairman to finalize the report before the deadline. He was told that he would have to give presentations to different forums on the report so he should also prepare for such briefings.

The sources said the members of the committee were not happy with the way Mr Abbasi was finalizing the report. A former chairman of Wapda and the committee’s member from the NWFP has objected to the procedure of finalization of the report. He has informed the government and the committee chairman that the report would not be acceptable to the members.

In a letter delivered through the ministry of water and power to the former Wapda chief, Shamsul Mulk, who is considered a pro-Kalabagh dam engineer, said the report would not be acceptable to him and some other members.

He asked Mr Abbasi to convene a meeting of the committee and present the report for discussions before it was submitted to the government. He said the chairman of the committee had no authority to forward the report to the government unless cleared by all the members. Otherwise, the members would not sign the report, which would be considered unilateral and partisan.

Mr Abbasi, the sources said, responded that he was writing the report on the basis of the minutes of the meetings of the committee and views of all the members would be made part of the report.