PCRWR to go to Ministry of Water Resources

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to shift the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) from the Ministry of Science and Technology and merge it with the Ministry of Water Resources only because it contains the word ‘Water Resources’.

The government’s proposed move has already been opposed by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The cabinet will take up the matter in its October 1 meeting. However, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has conveyed to the authorities concerned that the PCRWR has been established through an Act of Parliament and it cannot be shifted from one ministry to another simply through the cabinet’s approval.

It said the government will have to make an amendment to the PCRWR Act to shift it to another ministry.

The government doesn’t have the required strength in Parliament to amend the PCRWR Act. Hence, the fate of the body will remain in limbo; eventually this move of the government will make the PCRWR a dysfunctional body, believe the MoST officials.

The PCRWR is working in collaboration with many international donor agencies and has signed numerous agreements with them.

Any change in the status of this body will not only jeopardize the fate of these agreements, but will bring a bad name to the country, the Ministry of Science and Technology officials said.

“This is not the only body being shifted from the MoST, but the government is also giving control of the Pakistan Halal Authority (PHA) to the Ministry of Commerce. The PHA was also established through an Act of Parliament and is working under the umbrella of Ministry of Science and Technology.

The ministry is currently in the process of recruitments in the PHA. This kind of premature move will halt the recruitment process as well as the PHA operations, the MoST officials commented.

The News also contacted experts to know whether the government’s move to shift the PCRWR from the Ministry of Science and Technology to the Ministry of Water Resources was a right decision or it will have repercussions for the body.

Talking to The News, an expert said the Ministry of Science and Technology was playing a major role in research and development (R&D) of all areas of science including water resources through the PCRWR, while the Ministry of Water Resources had a major role in development of water resources.

“The PCRWR was established through an Act of Parliament with the mandate to conduct, organize, coordinate and promote research on all aspects of water resources including irrigation, drainage, reclamation, drinking water, industrial water and sewerage management as well as desertification, drought and flood mitigation at national level. Key research areas of the council include water quality (water quality assessment and management, simple and low cost analytical solutions for water quality monitoring, innovative water treatment technologies, capacity building in water quality management) and water management (crop water requirements, water conservation, groundwater investigations, recharge of depleted aquifers, watershed management, drainage and land reclamation, rainwater harvesting and desertification control,” commented the experts.

“Over a period of six decades, this council has developed expertise on above key research areas with a huge infrastructure (One head office in Islamabad (National Water Quality Laboratory; National Capacity Building Institute); 8 regional offices; 7 research and demonstration stations; 25 water quality testing laboratories; 4 drainage type lysimeters to determine crop water requirements in different agro-ecological zones; GIS and Geo-hydrological laboratory; and Soil Physics Laboratory”, said the experts.

According to them, the Ministry of Water Resources already had some research institutions like Mona Reclamation Experimental Project (MREP) Bhalwal, International Sedimentation Research Institute of Pakistan (ISRIP) Lahore, Lower Indus Water Management and Reclamation Research Project (LIM) Tandojam, International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI), Lahore, etc. which had become redundant due to development focus of the Ministry of Water Resources.

“Water quality management, groundwater investigation/management and recharge, desertification control, and agricultural water management are the key research areas of the PCRWR but the same does not come within the purview of the Ministry of Water Resources.

Similarly, the outreach of PCRWR is up to the level of provinces as well as local level whereas the Ministry of Water Resources was limited to the federal level, Wapda and other organizations mainly in Lahore.

In view of above, placing the PCRWR under the Ministry of Water Resources will make its developed capacity and capabilities in its areas of mandate and specialization redundant. Hence, it won’t be an appropriate or a feasible proposal. However, the PCRWR can better assist the Ministry of Water Resources as an independent think tank in best national interest subject to provision of required resources (human and financial), believe the experts.

When contacted, spokesperson for Ministry of Science and Technology confirmed that the government had decided to shift the PCRWR to the Ministry of Water Resources. He, however, said he could not comment further on the issue as the decision had been taken at the federal cabinet level.