ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: Science and technology minister Dr Attaur Rehman on Tuesday emphasized the need for a major overhaul in the bureaucratic system, the stifling environment of which, he said, was the biggest hurdle in progress and development.

It is unbelievable that a file needs to be perused at 53 different places for simple enhancement of a grant for an institution, he observed, adding that this cumbersome bureaucratic setup needed to be changed.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day executive management seminar on environment and health, organized by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in collaboration with UNDP, regional cooperation project and International Atomic Energy Agency. The workshop was organized here at a local hotel.

The minister said the public awareness of health hazards and environment degradation could play an effective role as the legal procedures for combating the unhealthy practices were delayed to the extent of being denied.

He also encompassed the non-serious attitudes in health related products and facilities offered by different private agencies. He cited an analysis conducted recently in Karachi, suggesting that out of 60 popular branded mineral water products, 15 were not conforming, at all, to the prescribed standards and, in fact, were injurious to health.

Due to unsound storage facilities, wheat stocks develop fungus that is injurious to public health, he said, adding that sub-standard food products and unhealthy environmental conditions were the main reasons for cancer and other deadly diseases in the poor countries.

The industrial effluents were equally the big sources of diseases and the problem needed immediate attention.

Prof Rehman said 10 per cent population had contracted Hepatitis-B, and the resurgence of tuberculosis, due to poor environment and unhygienic food items, had put a heavy disease burden on the society. Similarly, the change in life style brought by the technology also resulted in blood pressure and heart diseases. He said by smoking 20 cigarettes a day, the life expectancy of a person reduces by eight-and-a-half-year.

He said the government had increased the budget for science and technology from Rs120 million to Rs7 billion, adding that Rs150 to Rs200 million endowment funds were being provided to each engineering university. Similar endowments will soon be provided to agriculture universities.

“We are concentrating on the quality of higher education and the production of 1,000 PhDs is our immediate aim,” the minister said.

He said the slow rate of research in laboratories was due to the fact that most of the expensive equipment was non-functional for the want of minor maintenance support, hence stress was being laid on education in electronics. However, he expressed his disappointment that a number of universities had not appointed electronic engineers as yet, despite having received the grants.