ISLAMABAD: Fol­low­ing the last-minute postponement of the meeting of National Assembly Stan­d­ing Committee on National Food Security and Resea­r­ch, the Pakistan Agricul­tural Research Council has called an emergency meeting of its board of governors on Wednesday to discuss the situation arising out of the proposed relocation of National Agricultural Resea­­rch Centre from Islamabad.

The National Agricultu­ral Research Centre situated in Chak Shahzad, Islamabad, since 1980 is spread over 1250 acres of land. The land was leased out to the centre by the Capital Development Authority, but it has now decided not to extend the lease which expired on April 30, 2004, while PARC wants renewal of the lease for another 30 years.

Observers believe that the abrupt postponement of the standing committee’s meeting lends credence to suspicions that land mafia having strong links with the PML-N wants possession of the land to develop a housing scheme there.

The meeting of standing committee was scheduled to take place at the NARC and officials of Capital Development Authority were summoned to explain the situation.

The CDA plans to build a housing scheme at the 1250 acres of land being used by the centre for carrying out research work in all disciplines of agriculture.

No valid reason was given for the postponement of the standing committee’s meeting. When contacted, an official of the ministry of national food security and research said that the meeting had been postponed since the quorum was not full.

On the other hand, the Chairman of the standing committee, Malik Shakir Bashir Awan of PML-N, said that for some reasons the meeting had been delayed for a week or so.

He quashed rumours that the meeting had been postponed after intervention by a top leader of PML-N. In the 19-member standing committee, the PML-N has representation of 11 members.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play