Paved paradise: Old trees cut for assembly car park

PESHAWAR: Nearly 50-year-old trees were chopped down to start construction on a car park and cafeteria in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly premises. The assembly employees demanded the construction of a new cafeteria and car park as they said going outside for lunch consumes time and is a security risk, acting governor, Asad Qaiser, said on Friday during the inauguration ceremony. “We had no other option but to cut down these trees.” The cutting of trees comes at a time when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran Khan ordered the forest department to increase the number of trees in the province. However, trees in the assembly premises have been removed to construct additional facilities.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th,  2016.