K-P plants 2m saplings in a day

The provincial government has attempted to plant as many as two million saplings in a single day as part of a drive which kicked off in the province on Sunday.

This was stated by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan as he addressed an event to mark the Tiger Force Day in the Regi area of the provincial capital on Sunday.

CM Mahmood said the province will help accomplish the target of planting over 1.2 billion trees under a nation-wide plantation drive launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s.

To reach the ambitious target, the plantation drive was simultaneously launched at 853 spots across the province, he said, hoping that some two million saplings will be planted on Sunday.

“Over 1.2 billion saplings would be planted across the province over the next five years,” he added.

Tree plantation is not a new initiative for the government which has previously planted over a billion trees under PTI’s tenure, and which has been acknowledged all over the world, Mahmood stated.

The provincial government, he continued, will utilise services of the Tiger Force to improve the condition of shelter homes besides engaging them in the plantation drive.

Earlier, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Usman Dar said PM Imran Khan has launched the biggest-ever tree plantation drive in the country’s history to protect future generations.

Trees uprooted

Meanwhile, scores of people uprooted trees on Sunday immediately they were planted by the Khyber district administration as a part of a countrywide plantation drive.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri had visited a site in the Landi Kotal area of Khyber on Sunday where he inaugurated the plantation drive by spudding a sapling. But soon after he left, local tore the plants out of the soli.

Locals in the Jamrud area first staged a protest against the administration for planting the trees on what they claimed disputed land without their permission. The protesters carried black and Pakistani flags as they chanted slogans against the government.

MNA Iqbal Afridi tried to pacify the protesters but they did not appear to listen to him and started uprooting the trees.

6,000 new trees were said to have been planted in the area, according to the district administration.

K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has taken notice of the incident and ordered action against the people involved. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM DNA)

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2020.