The Punjab Water Council (PWC) has demanded dismissal of Irrigation Minister Raja Riaz allegedly for working against interests of the province. Raja Riaz who is the senior PPP minister in the Punjab government categorically stated here on Wednesday that Punjab should forget construction of the controversial mega Kalabagh dam on river Indus. The Executive Committee of Punjab Water Council held an emergency meeting here on Thursday and said that the Punjab Assembly has already passed a resolution favouring the immediate construction of Kalabagh Dam. The committee said how the Punjab government could convince opponents of the Kalabagh dam when its own senior minister was opposing it? It said that Punjab produces 80 percent of the country's wheat, rice, sugar, fruits, vegetable, livestock etc and any anti Punjab policies would therefore be against the nation's interest. The members who addressed the meeting included Farooq Bajwa (Bahawalpur), Bilal Israel (Rahim Yar Khan), Rabia Sultan (Muzaffargarh), Tariq Bucha (Multan), Hamid Malhi (Narowal), Omar Sarfraz Cheema (Gujranwala), Brigadier Rashid Baig (Retd) (Okara), Ibaad Khan (Sahiwal), Farhat Ullah Khan (Khanewal), Naeem Ullah Malik (Bahawalnagar), Dr Naseer Ahmad (Toba Tek Singh), Safdar Saleem Sial (Jhang), Masud Aftab (Faisalabad), Malik Ghulam Mohammad (Khushab), Shaukat Hayat Mekan (Sargodha), Mohammad Mehdi(Layyah), Safdar Gondal (Mandi Bahauddin) and Chaudhry Shaukat Hussain (Gujrat). Mohammad Amin Chattha, President, Punjab Water Council presided over the meeting. They called upon the Pakistan Peoples Party not to oppose construction of Kalabagh dam on as it claims to represent the Federation. Later talking to Business Recorder the PWC convenor Farooque Bajwa said that the PPP government could not hide the enormous benefits of the KBD in view of the depleting storage capacity of Tarbela, Mangla dam and Chashma barrage. He further said water storage capacity which was 17 million acre feet in 1976 has come down to 11 MAF whereas our population since then has more than doubled. He said water conservation capacity of Tarbela dam and Chashma barrage has already depleted by 35 percent, therefore if new dams were not constructed, all the four provinces would suffer.