HYDERABAD, Feb 11: The Sindh Abadgar Board has appealed to the president to include independent experts in a study in respect of water release downstream Kotri.

In a letter to President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, SAB chief Abdul Majeed Nizamani said under para-7 of the 1991 water accord, the need for escapages to sea had been recognized.

He said a study was to be carried out to determine the quantity of escapages and the Council of Common Interest at its meeting held on Sept 19, 1991, had directed that the study should be carried out by international experts.

Mr Nizamani, however, regretted that the parliamentary committee on water resources had recommended to assign the study to a local consultant. He said the study report of the consultant company might not be impartial as he claimed it had been working for the interests of one province.

Furthermore, Mr Nizamani said, the parliamentary committee was a recommendatory body and was supposed to work in coordination with the technical committee appointed by the president.

He claimed that any decision taken by the parliamentary committee independently would be a negation of the directives of the president. He further said the decision to assign the study to a local consultant was a contravention of the CCI directives.

He said the technical committee should be consulted before taking decisions and added that the provinces should be involved in selecting and assigning work to ensure transparency.