ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Wednesday accepted adjournment motion to debate proposed conversion of 1400 acre land of National Agricultural Research Centre by CDA into residential and commercial plots.
Moving the motion in the House, Mushahid Hussain Syed said that PARC was promoting agricultural research in the country for the past 30 years and the Capital Development Authority wants to forcibly occupy its land purely for residential and commercial purposes.
He claimed that it was not included in CDA master plan and no authority could be allowed to destroy green belts of the Capital. "Converting every thing into plot is a recipe for destruction and disaster." Criticizing the CDA, Mushahid Hussain said that the Authority has failed to develop Park Enclave despite a lapse of four years.
He requested the chair that it was a matter of utmost public and national interest and it should be debate in the House. Opposing the motion, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad said the CDA had allotted 1400 acre plot for 33 years on lease to PARC in 1975 during the regime of Zulfikhar Ali Bhutto. The lease period has already been expired in 2005.
He said that the plot was leased out purely for agricultural purpose. However, the PARC has set up a petrol pump and residential colony on it for which they were not authorized, he added. The minister said that a summery has been sent to the Prime Minister in this regard by CDA. Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani citing various sub -rules A, B, C, F of rule 87 of Senate said that the motion was in order and adopted for 2 hour debate. Meanwhile, speaking on the matter of non-installation of machine readable passport system in Pakistan Mission Manila, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the House that procedure has already been completed for setting up facility in the embassy and by mid November it would start working with the cost of US$ 12000-15000.
Comments
Comments are closed.