National Assembly's Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination showed serious concern over low productivity of domestic dairy products and recommended that provincial livestock and fisheries departments should ensure their presence in the rural and far-flung areas.

The committee met with Agha Hassan Baloch in the chair here at the Parliament House on Tuesday and discussed the issues relating to the Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC), Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and others.

The committee showed concern over the low productivity of the domestic dairy products and asked the ministry to take necessary steps in this regard. It was also recommended that provincial livestock and fisheries departments should ensure their presence in rural and far-flung areas of their respective provinces.

The committee decided to inspect and hold meetings with each provincial livestock department in its respective province to ascertain its on-ground performance. The secretary Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination gave a briefing on the compliance with the recommendations given by the committee in its previous meeting.

Afterwards, a detailed briefing on the role, functions, achievements and future proposals of Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC) was given to the committee. It was informed that a twelve-member council is elected for a term of four years with its representation from the four provinces of Pakistan.

The committee recommended that the ministry should move legislative proposal for inclusion of members from Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan to cater for representation from those areas as well.

The committee was briefed that the council has taken steps to standardize and bring uniformity in the curriculum of the veterinary science teaching institutes. It was recommended that the council should also undertake research projects to provide solutions for the problems in domestic livestock farming. The committee confirmed minutes of its sixth meeting held on September 27, 2019.

MNAs including Mehboob Shah, Gul Zafar Khan, Robina Jamil, Munawara Bibi Baloch, Shaheen Naz Saifullah, Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan, Chaudhary Zulfiqar Ali Bhinder, Rana Mubashir Iqbal, Rasheed Ahmed Khan, Zulfiqar Ali, Shahida Rehmani, Naseeba Channa, and Muhammad Anwar attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019