ISLAMABAD: National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Science and Technology took serious notice of the 156 employees of Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), who rendered their services in water testing labs for more than 13 years but were now out of job due to the closure of the project.
The NA body, which met here under the chairmanship of Member National Assembly (MNA) Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema, was briefed that the project was closed in December 2015 and these employees were facing hard times for the last two years.
Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain informed the members that they had taken the matter as the trained staff served for more than a decade and they were a valuable asset for the department. He stated that the prime minister had ordered to find out a way out for facilitating the people through proper channels.
The NA body constituted a three-member sub-committee headed by MNA Ali Muhammad Khan, and including MNA Aliya Kamran and MNA Shahjehan Muneer Mangrio, to solve the matter and submit a report within 30 days with concrete suggestions.
The committee also expressed concern over the misappropriation in National Testing Services (NTS) and directed that the ministry may hold an impartial inquiry to bring the culprits behind the bars.
The committee decided to have a comprehensive briefing on the performance of NTS and deferred the issue till next meeting for further discussion.
The committee discussed COMSATS University, Islamabad Bill, 2017, already passed by the upper house, and asked the ministry of science and technology secretary, higher education commission (HEC) chairman and COMSATS rector to examine the observations raised by some of the members of the committee and stakeholders.
The chairman directed to submit proposals to justify concerns raised by the members within seven days.
The committee also deferred agenda of the report of sub-committee on Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) and the budgetary proposals of science and technology ministry to public sector development programme (PSDP) for the budget 2018-19 till the next meeting.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Makhdoom Syed Ali Hassan Gillani, Musarat Rafique Mahesar, Aftab Shahban Mirani, Shamasun Nisa, Ali Muhammad Khan, Lal Chand Malhi, Sajid Ahmad, Aliya Kamran and Shahjehan Muneer Mangrio.
