Islamabad, Jan 2 (IANS) Pakistan plans to challenge a decision of an UN agency to grant carbon credits to India on a hydropower project.

According to Pakistani officials, India secured the carbon credits for its 45-MW Nimoo-Bazgo project without mandatory environmental impact assessment clearance from Pakistan.

They criticised the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for granting carbon credits without proper check, the daily Dawn reported Monday.

The Pakistani officials alleged India may have misled the UN agency through fake documents showing Pakistan’s consent to the project, because there was no such record available in Pakistan.

The water and power ministry is also considering if Pakistan’s former commissioner for Indus waters could be proceeded against for not vigorously pursuing to stop India from constructing the controversial project, the daily said.

“Although it is too difficult to get carbon credits on a trans-boundary project such as Nimoo-Bazgo, due to lack of contest by PCIW (Pakistan’s commissioner for Indus Waters), India was able to get carbon credits,” said Mohammad Imtiaz Tajwar, the officer charged with probing the case, in a report.

PCIW was in the knowledge of the issue and could have approached authorities to take up the matter in the court of arbitration. However, that initiative was not availed and the opportunity was missed, the daily said quoting Tajwar.

It remained unclear why the ministries of law, foreign affairs and other related institutions failed to know about the Indian success at the UNFCCC during 4-5 years of carbon credit approval process, the newspaper noted.

The UNFCCC approved the carbon credits in 2008 after India applied for them in 2006. It was, however, not clear why Pakistan has decided to challenge the UNFCCC decision after three years.

The Nimoo-Bazgo project is on the Indus river, 70 km from Leh in Jammu and Kashmir. The project was conceived in July 2001 and construction began in June 2005.