RAWALPINDI: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training on Monday grilled Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University officials over alleged irregularities and directed them to eradicate nepotism and favouritism in order to develop merit-based environment at the institution.

During a meeting held at the university, the lawmakers took notice of charging students for drinking water and asked the university management to provide basic facilities to the students free of cost. The university is charging Rs600 per semester from each student for drinking water.

Chairman of the committee Dr Amirullah Marwat sought a report on the construction activities at the university.

The committee asked the university to pay attention on quality of education, not its quantity. It recommended appointing the vice chancellor at the earliest and including at least 50pc agriculture-related programmes/disciplines in the syllabus. Proactive approach should be adopted towards harassment. In case of harassment, severe and prompt action should be taken against the offender.

Management told to promote merit-based environment in the university

The committee was informed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had started probing alleged irregularities in the university last month and would prepare a report soon.

The committee also directed the university to rename the main square of the university which had been named after former vice chancellor Dr Rai Niaz without taking permission from the syndicate.

The committee also asked Dr Niaz, who retired last year, to vacate the official residence immediately.

During the meeting, the members sought details about a pond established within the premises of the university. It was constructed to harvest rainwater but was being filled with tubewell water.

The university officials said the facility was also used as a fish pond and was supplied water through a tubewell during the dry weather.

The committee also examined the Institute of Science and Technology Bahawalpur Bill 2018.

Briefing the committee about its objectives, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Balighur Rehman said the institute would meet the local needs, particularly in the cotton-related technology of south Punjab that produced 50pc of cotton.

Besides the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park, Bahawalpur needs skilled human resource for different fields. After its scrutiny, the bill was approved unanimously with minor amendments.

Earlier, the committee was given a briefing by Pir Mehar Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Sarwat Naz Mirza about its performance as well as problems.

The university aims at developing human resource for socio-economic development of people living in dry and mountainous regions. Students are imparted education up to the PhD level.

At present, 12,897 students (undergraduate and postgraduate) are enrolled in various disciplines at the university. The university extends financial support to the students through various national and international scholarship programmes.

Prof Mirza said research and development was one of the significant indicators to measure the performance of any university. The university has completed 47 research projects while 82 are under completion.

With the efforts of its faculty, the university has developed an indigenous hydroponic system. The cost affective system is beneficial for kitchen gardening. The university has built a rainwater harvesting reservoir with the storage capacity of 0.23 million cft. Its catchment area is the campus roofs. It has cultivated fruit and olive orchards for research purpose.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2018