ISLAMABAD: The fate of the National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) still hangs in the balance as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is yet to take a decision on a summary moved by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to demolish the apex agricultural research institution and raise a housing scheme in its place.

When contacted, Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Dr Iftikhar Ahmad told Dawn that the status quo on the NARC case remained unchanged.

However, PARC has responded to the summary of the CDA sent to the prime minister.

He said the ministry of national food security and research was playing its role to plead the case. Dr Ahmad said he had no idea as to when the prime minister`s decision would come.

While the prime minister`s decision is awaited, an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly standing committee on national food security and research has been convened to review the situation.

The meeting, called by the committee chairman MNA Malik Shakir Bashir Awan, will be held at the NARC on June 30. The committee has summoned the high-ups of the CDA to explain the motives behind their decision to cancel the lease and ask PARC to vacate the 1,250 acres of land at Chak Shahzad, Islamabad.

Dr Zafar Altaf, who was the chairman of PARC during the previous PPP government, suggested a strong administration at the research institution to overcome the crisis. He said NARC was a national institution and should continue its research activities.

There have been strong reservations from agricultural scientists, agriculturists and the farming community over the abrupt decision of the CDA to transform NARC land into a housing scheme when the country`s agriculture sector needed more research not only to keep the momentum of production but also to equip the farmers with the results of new research in the wake of the climate change effects.

Meanwhile, Dr Amir Mohammad, the founding chairman of PARC, has urged Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan and the council management to convene a meeting of PARC board of governors to devise a proactive strategy in defence of the national institutions. Mr Bosan is heading the board of governors.

Dr Amir Mohammad, who is also heading the association of former PARC scientists, chaired a meeting of the association on Thursday and said the need to convene the meeting was felt afterthe move by the CDA to transform the land of NARC into a housing society.

Expressing concerns over the CDA plan, Dr Mohammad described the move as an attempt to ruin the agriculture sector, adding this important sector cannot be sacrificed for the establishment of housing societies.

It may be mentioned that the CDA has moved the summary for the approval of the prime minister to develop 6,000 plots on the NARC land to earn Rs100 billion in one year apart from Rs30-50 billion from the auction of commercial plots.

The CDA in its summary argued that NARC land was no longer suitable for agricultural research since the area would become a commercial and housing centre in the years to come.