ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: Chairman of the National Commission for Nano Science and Technology Dr Noor Mohammad Butt said here on Saturday that the government had made available Rs4 billion for gainful research in the new discipline over next four years.

In a talk on the products of nano-technology at the Scientists Club, the science emeritus professor listed 155 finished projects at the GIK University of Science and Technology, the Pinstech and some in the area of biotechnology were under study at Faisalabad.

“You see products of nano technology right in front of your eyes,” he said, referring to the Rs200 million study of “quantum devices” in progress at Quaid-i-Azam University.

Dr Butt said the government policy was to train young scientists intensively so that they could replace senior scientists.

Pakistan is a late entry into this new field of physics which is driving the world of science these days. “But we are trying to catch up,” he said.

“This is a gradual process of scouting new talent among fresh pure science graduates and engineers and at the same time senior professors are sent out as roving professors to acquire a feel of new advancements and scientific experiments,” he added.

In this regard he mentioned a Pakistani scientist working in Liverpool who, he said, had made such “astounding experiments” that the institution has asked him to stay on.

However, Dr Butt did not divulge the name of the Pakistani researcher, saying it would not be in national interest.

At this point Dr Arshad from the audience suggested that it would be wise in the beginning to concentrate experiments and ideas at one central institute of nano technology instead of dispersing efforts at many places.

But Dr Butt’s mention of new fields for studies was contested by scientist Nawab Akhtar who said the test should be the utility of these projects to Pakistan, rather than wasting public money on studies which yielded nothing to the country.

Dr Butt shot back that new projects were scrutinized by the Higher Education Commission to ensure it had been conceived under the guidance of good teachers and that industries would back its products after successful results.

Dr Nawab Akhtar also remonstrated that while the Higher Education Commission was talking of providing substantial funds for new projects, two fuel cells purchased five years ago by the NED University at the cost of millions of rupees remained idle.

Similarly, a black and white electronic microscope badly needed by Taxila Engineering University could not be brought for lack of transportation cost.

It was suggested that an HEC representative should be present in the Scientists Club meetings to take note of ideas thrown up there.

Dr Tahir Hussain, teacher to almost all the contemporary Pakistani scientists, who was presiding the meeting paid rich tributes to Surgeon Rashid Khan who had established the Club and had been conducting its monthly meetings for the last 21 years.