The National Assembly Standing Committee on Science and Technology on Wednesday has approved ‘The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources Amendment Bill 2021 (Ordinance No. XIX)’.
The meeting of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology was held under the chairmanship of Sajid Mehdi.
The committee unanimously confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting that was on 13 October. It was satisfied with the implementation status of the previous recommendations.
The committee considered The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Ordinance No. XIX of 2021) (Government Bill), with the Ministry of Law and Justice supporting it.
According to the bill’s object and reason, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) was established in 1964 and is working as a corporate body vide the PCRWR Act 2007, under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).
As per PCRWR Act 2007, the rules of PCRWR will have the provision for a two-track appointment: contractual and permanent, which is a complicated way of recruitment as it allows the advertisement of a specific post twice. The amendment has been proposed in the Act to make the recruitment process simple and transparent.
The issue of the scarcity of water was also considered. The committee recommended that a meeting should be held at PCRWR in consideration of various steps being taken by the council to address the issue and steps taken by the government to reduce the wastage and recycling of used water.
After debating it, the committee recommended that the bill be passed by the National Assembly.
The meeting was attended by Members/MNAs/Movers Engr. Usman Khan Tarakai, Ch. Shoukat Ali Bhatti, Sobia Kamal Khan, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Malik, Zaib Jaffar, Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, Sikandar Ali Rahoupoto, Naveed Aamir Jeeva, and Riaz Fatyana; besides the Secretary of the MoST and its staff.
