RCB to plant 15,000 trees in fresh drive

Business community of cantonment announces cash awards for sanitation staff involved in plantation

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board this week kicked off a plantation and cleanliness drive in which they aim to plant as many as 15,000 trees.

Moreover, the Rawalpindi Development Authority has directed all existing housing societies within its jurisdiction to plant at least 1,000 trees.

While inaugurating the drive at the Rumi Park, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board Additional Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Faisal Munir Wattoo said that they will use all available resources to make this drive successful.

In this regard, the business community within the cantonment announced prizes for the best-performing sanitary workers during the campaign.

Traders Union of Cantonment General Secretary Zafar Qadri said that as many as 15,000 new saplings will be planted within the cantonment area during the ongoing drive.

Further, he said, they will be holding seminars for creating awareness amongst residents on the importance of planting trees will be organized.

Later, the participants walked from Rumi Park to Mall Road to raise awareness about planting trees and they distributed pamphlets amongst locals and motorists along their route.  Cantonment Assistant Secretary Qaiser Mehmood and Cantonment Engineer Atiqur Rehman Chaudhry also participated in the walk.

RDA instructs housing authorities to plant trees

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has restricted the newly-approved and already established housing societies to plant at least 1,000 plants for every 100 kanals of land.

New housing societies which fail to comply with these orders will not be granted their no-objection certificates (NOCs) while a meeting of established housing societies has been summoned on March 21.

RDA Chairman Muhammad Arif Abbasi has said that in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the authority will make sure to establish a clean and green country for the future generations. He added that the authority will obtain an undertaking from housing societies in this regard and warned that strict legal action will be taken against those who would fail to accomplish the task. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2019.