A dozen MPs of the main opposition UML trekked to Purnagiri in Dadeldhura district and came back with a revelation last week: India has begun building a dam, they said. The Democratic National Youth Association?a UML-affiliated organisation?organised the trek to Dadeldhura, following which the MPs disclosed their findings: 50,000 people would be affected by the dam which the Indians were building on war-footing.

The Ministry of Water Resources said a day later that such talk was baseless and what was underway were surveys for the preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Pancheshwor project, which Nepal and India agreed to build together in September 1996. It said the sites being considered for building a flow-regulation dam were Rupaligad, Sirsegad and Purnagiri. The minsitry added that only the DPR would identify where the structure would actually be built?after all the technical, socio-economic and environmental assessments were complete.