Govt approves shifting of PSQCA head office to Islamabad

The Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology on Wednesday passed a bill regarding transfer of head office of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) to Islamabad from Karachi.

During the meeting of the committee, which was chaired by Senator Muhammad Shafiq Tareen, the bill was approved with majority vote while senators from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUI-P) objected the bill saying that it was unnecessary.

The voting on the bill was conducted in the meeting after objection from two members of the committee.

During the meeting Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz while briefing the committee said that the government wants to bring improvements in the authority’s working which requires moving its head office to Islamabad from Karachi.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has decided to restructure PSQCA while shifting the head office as there are many complaints and issues related to corruption, irregularities and poor performance in the authority.

Shibli Faraz, while talking to Profit, had claimed that PSQCA was one of the most important organizations under his ministry. Unfortunately it has many issues to address. “This is why we are going to transform the whole organization,” he said.

Meanwhile the ministry has also decided to outsource all the laboratories of PSQCA because the authority has failed to maintain their operational licenses from the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC). It was observed that there were numerous complaints and issues related to corruption, irregularities and poor performance in PSQCA but it was becoming an uphill task to mend all the issues, said an official.

PSQCA is an attached department of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Ghulam Abbas
Ghulam Abbas
The writer is a member of the staff at the Islamabad Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected]

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