LAHORE, Sept 29: Agriculture Minister Arshad Lodhi was at the receiving end in the Punjab Assembly on Friday as the opposition criticised the government for neglecting the farm sector.

Starting the question hour in the presence of a small number of MPAs, deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan claimed that the government had not allocated any fund for high-level farm research.

“Farm scientists have not got any pay raise during the last 27 years.” His disclosure was later confirmed by the minister.

Rana regretted that such a treatment was being meted out to a sector which benefited nearly 70 per cent of the population.

The agriculture minister tried to defend the government by saying that the amount being spent under the `operational funds’ head had in fact been spent on research. But Rana rejected his claim.

The deputy opposition leader said that the government had spent Rs390 million under the `pay and allowances’ head for the Ayub Agriculture Research Centre, Faisalabad, in 2004-05. During the same period, it spent only Rs10 million under the operational funds.

Responding to another question by Rana, the minister admitted that farm scientists had been doing with a special allowance of Rs150 only during the last 27 years.

He said that a proposal of improving service structure of scientists was under consideration of the government. The minister said that BS-17 officers from the research wing of the department would be placed in BS-18.

Syed Ehsanullah Waqas was the next one to grill the minister by claiming that almost 500 seed companies were operating in the province but the right to check standard of seeds of private companies was with the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department. “This shows that the provincial government has no legal authority to check quality of seeds. The Federal Seed Department does it under the Seed Act of

1976.”

Answering a question by Uzma Zahid Bukhari, Rana Qasim Noon, minister for agriculture marketing, said that the government had not fixed any date for selecting chairmen of market committees. “But the government plans to select the chairman of market committee, Kot Lakhput, soon under the existing law.”

Ms Bukhari claimed that there were huge discrepancies in income and expenditure of the Kot Lakhput market committee. She wanted the minister to explain the expenditure but failed to get any response.

On a question by Syed Waseem Akhtar, the minister said three pesticides testing laboratories were operating across the province while the fourth was coming up in Bahawalpur. He said that a single pesticides testing lab cost Rs100 million and it was not possible for the government to establish such labs at district level throughout the Punjab.

Arshad Mahmood Baggu of the MMA and Raja Riaz criticised the government for not coming up with answers to questions by MPA Lala Shakeelur Rehman regarding agriculture department’s reforms even after three years.