FAISALABAD, Feb 6: Member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik has said that the Bio-saline Agriculture Technology (BSAT) will help reclaim 11 million acres of wastelands in the country, where techniques like SCARP cant be used.

At the inaugural ceremony of two-week International Training Workshop on Bio-saline Agriculture Technology which began here at the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) on Monday, he said unlike SCARP, the BSAT had no negative effects on agriculture rather it would bring pleasant environmental changes, besides prosperity to farmers.

The BSAT identifies such crops, grass, bushes and trees which are salt-tolerant and can grow in saline lands also.

NIAB Director Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan said 1,150 acres of saline land in Lahore and Pakka Anna had been converted into lush green fields through the use of BSAT. Encouraged by the results, the PAEC had launched a pilot project in all the four provinces where 25,000 acres of saline land would be brought under cultivation with the participation of farmers, he added.

Under the project, 10,000 acres of wasteland will be reclaimed at Shorkot and Lodhran.

As many as 20 scientists from Egypt, Indonesia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE and Pakistan are participating in the workshop. They will gain practical training in BSAT.

NADRA: People have protested against the indifferent attitude of Nadra’s Liaqat Road office staff. They said that applicants were forced to hire the services of touts present outside the office.