‘500m trees to be planted in Punjab in five years’

CM says nine million trees will be planted across province during the current year

LAHORE: As many 500 million trees will be planted across Punjab in five years, while nine million trees will be planted during the current year, said Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar.

He expressed these views while inaugurating the monsoon tree plantation by planting a sapling at China Park near Saggian Interchange on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that it is the responsibility of every Pakistani to make the tree plantation campaign a success.

“Currently, there are 21 trees per acre in Punjab. Our goal is to increase this ratio to 28 trees per acre by 2025,” he revealed. Around 5.1% of the country is covered in forests. Out of this, 3.27% is in Punjab, he added.

He maintained that merely planting more trees is not the solution. Instead, we should focus on looking after the trees that exist. The forest department will give a subsidy of 70% on tree plantation on an area of 3,950 acres under the Social Forestry Project, he said.

He appealed to the people to plant more trees in order to make the country green. The chief minister also inspected the stall set up by the forest department. He was also briefed on the tree plantation campaign. Speaking to the media, he said that the scope of the Sehat Insaf Cards will be expanded to the entire province.

The prime minister has directed that government employees should also be provided with Sehat Insaf Cards, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2019.