ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Science and Technology on Wednesday expressed surprise on learning that none of the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) projects got approved for funding under the public-sector development programme (PSDP) this year.
The committee directed the ministry concerned to re-submit all PCRET projects to the Planning Division for evaluation. The decision was taken at a meeting of the standing committee at the PCRET premises under the chairmanship of Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema. Earlier, the committee expressed dissatisfaction over non-cooperative attitude of the higher ups in the PCRET. It said this was causing disenchantment among the employees of the council. “The insecurity among employees creates unrest and they cannot be expected to perform well in such a situation,” the committee observed. The committee directed that PCRET should take appropriate steps to safeguard interest of its employees so that they could be able to perform their services for the betterment of the department. The committee was of the opinion that with its existing laboratories PCRET has the ability to introduce modern renewable technologies, but unfortunately the council was unable to perform well due to shortage of funds. It recommended an increase in research and development budget for the council. During the meeting, the committee also directed the PCRET to introduce its products in the market through public-private partnership ventures.
It said this would enable the council to earn revenue for the national exchequer. MNAs Chaudhary Armaghan Subhani, Shazia Mubashar, Musarat Rafique Mahesar, Aftab Shahban Mirani, Shamas-un-Nisa, Ali Muhammad Khan, Lal Chand Malhi, Sajid Ahmad, Mehboob Alam, Aliya Kamran, and Engineer Usman Khan Tarakai attended the meeting.
Published in Daily Times, July 27th 2017.
