CDA told to develop ‘meaningful’ policy

Climate change secretary summoned for next hearing of case

The Islamabad High Court on Friday directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to devise a policy over ‘meaningful tree plantation’ in the city and ordered the director of the environment wing of the civic body to submit a report about plantation and cutting of trees in the capital.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the IHC also issued a notice to the Ministry of Climate Change secretary to appear at the next hearing of the case – scheduled for December 18.

The directions were passed while hearing a petition – originally filed in 2008 - by the Citi Council for Welfare through its president Riaz Hanif Rahi, for removing garbage, especially from the surroundings of the IHC, and sought court’s directions on the planned green cover in the capital.

The petitioner had urged for the court to direct the civic body to completely transfer garbage completely from around the IHC, and the court has continued to hear the case and sought different reports from the civic body and government authorities from time to time. During Friday’s hearing, Justice Kayani asked the CDA Environment director how many trees had been cut and how many new trees have been planted in the capital, especially on a stretch between the Convention Centre and Third Avenue.

Justice Kayani observed that several trees have been chopped in the area while no new saplings or trees have been planted in their stead.

The director told the court that the civic body has its own nursery where saplings are grown and thereafter planted throughout the city.

Rahi had argued that while planting trees is good for beautifying the city, but meaningful plantation would help reduce emissions, combat pollution and moderating temperatures of the city.

He added that temperatures recorded in Sectors E and F were different when compared with those recorded in Sectors G, H and I due to the difference in the number of trees planted there.

Rahi went on to claim that CDA was planting trees without any concerted planning. He pointed to the recent exercise of planting floral and decorative trees around the capital which had little capacity to absorb pollution in the air surrounding the Kashmir Highway.

“Planting trees without any planning is not helping the cause,” Rahi argued, adding that the civic body’s focus should be on the planned and meaningful plantation of trees in the capital during plantation drives.

“Whole-some environment is the right of everyone,” he stated in the 2008 petition, adding that court rulings stating that “a healthy body is the very foundation for all human activities” were also available in this regard.

According to a recent report from the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), the top civic administrator in the capital had failed to effectively protect the city’s environment, or fully implement the master plan – allowing several violations to go on unchecked.

In the report, the AGP had recommended that CDA should adopt a futuristic approach towards the environment of the city with a view towards its growing population and other needs.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2017.