Monsoon Campaign: 9m saplings to be planted this year

LAHORE: Minister for Forests, Wildlife and Fisheries Malik Asif Bha Awan inaugurated a monsoon tree plantation campaign on Friday. Around nine million saplings would be planted across the province this year. Of these, 3.75 million saplings will be planted in public forests, 4.25 million on private lands, 600,000 on land owned by various government departments and 400,000 on land owned by Armed Forces. The campaign was inaugurated at a ceremony held at Jallo Park. It was attended by Forests, Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Captain (r) Jahanzeb Khan and Chief Conservator of Forest Central Zone Rana Shabbir Ahmad. Addressing the participants, the minister said increasing the green cover was a need of the hour. He stressed the need for raising awareness about various tree species and their benefits to the human population. He said the department would soon arrange a Farmers Day at the nurseries of the Forest department. Forest, Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Captain (retd) Jahanzeb Khan said more nurseries would be set up on 8,047 acres of Forest Department land and 95 avenue miles along various canals. He said that development work on different projects in Jallo Park was underway in full swing. He said plantation of 40 varieties of palm trees and orchards with 100 varieties of cactus would soon be completed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2016.