Plantation drive: AJK to plant 1.5 million saplings

MUZAFFARABAD:

A spring tree plantation drive was launched on Wednesday in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) under the supervision of forest department. A ceremony was held at Chattar Chowk Muzaffarabad in this regard where AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed was the chief guest.

AJK Forest Department will plant 1.5 million saplings in ten districts during the tree plantation drive, it was informed.

Majeed said that all available resources would be provided to the forest department to make this spring 2016 plantation drive a success. “All departments generally and education department particularly should play their role in planting more and more trees with the help of students in every village, town and city of AJK,” he added.

The premier further said that the plantation in AJK has direct link with prosperity of Pakistan.

AJK Forest Secretary Farhat Ali said that from the 1.5 million trees, 1.3 million will be distributed in ten districts of AJK under the supervision of forest department while the rest would be planted with the help of other departments.

“To ensure transparency and meet the deadline, forest department has appointed focal persons in every district to assist people in provision of plants from the nearest forest department nurseries. This year people can get saplings directly from the forest nurseries in every district on nominal charges,” Ali added.

Later, the AJK prime minister planted a Chinar tree at Chattar Chowk along with Forest Minister Javid Ayub and Finance Minister Latif Akbar. The employees of forest department, secretaries and senior bureaucrats were also present.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2016.