Kathmandu, Nov. 30: Lawmakers in Nepal today demanded that the government set up a parliamentary committee to probe the construction of a highway by India in the Terai region.

The issue rocked the Nepal parliament this morning after MPs accused India of going ahead with the project. They said that the highway would result in flooding in the Terai plains which border Bihar.

The lawmakers were reacting to Indian and Nepali media reports saying that the proposed 1,800-km east-west highway would be built to improve the region’s road links during monsoon.

The lawmakers, mainly belonging to the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and Maoists, said the proposed road would not only have an adverse environmental impact, but also expose thousands of villages to flooding.

The issue was raised in the parliament despite the fact that the Indian embassy in Kathmandu issued a statement saying that the reports were “false” and “baseless”. There is no such project being implemented or even on the drawing board, the embassy said.

The statement came two days after Nepal foreign minister Sahana Pradhan summoned Indian ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee and sought more information about the highway project.