PTI chief says southern districts to have several planted forests

DERA ISMAIL KHAN/LAKKI MARWAT: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said on Monday that the PTI-led coalition government would develop several places in the southern districts on the pattern of Changa Manga forest.
He was talking to reporters after inaugurating a tree plantation campaign in Dhap Chapak area of Dera Ismail Khan district.Imran Khan launched the tree plantation campaign by planting saplings there. It is part of the provincial government’s “Billion Tree Tsunami” plantation project to grow more than 1 billion trees in four years.
The PTI chief said the tree plantation campaign would help boost forest in the province. He said 100 million saplings had so far been planted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the launch of the project in 2014. “The number of planted saplings would be increased to 250 million in March 2016,” he added.
Imran Khan said that only 600 million saplings had been planted in the country since its independence in 1947. “We would plant more than a billion trees in four years,” he added. He said the PTI-led provincial government would plant forests
in the southern districts on the pattern of Changa Manga preserve.Imran Khan said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was raising a special police force for protection of forests. “The force would be equipped with sophisticated weapons,” he added.
He said the successive rulers destroyed the police department and made the cops their own servants, instead of developing the department as state institution.
He said the KP government introduced reforms in the police department and put an end to political interference in its affairs. He said the bringing of reforms in the police had improved its performance and ultimately improved law and order in the militancy-affected province. “The crime rate has dropped to 60 percent during the last one year in the province,” he claimed.
Criticising the Punjab and Sindh governments, he said the rulers of the two provinces had turned police force into their own party’s armed wings while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have been made an exemplary force.
Earlier, Imran Khan went to Tortala and Wanda Sher Dil areas in Lakki Marwat and launched tree plantation campaigns there by planting saplings. Talking to reporters, he said the tree plantation campaign would help boost forest cover in the province and create job opportunities.
Imran Khan directed the district administration to raise awareness among locals about trees plantation and motivate the local population to help make the campaign a success. “The participation of the local population would guarantee success of the ‘Billion Tree Tsunami Campaign’,” he said.
About the local government system, he said the powers had been devolved to the grassroots with the formation of district and tehsil councils in the province. He said the local government system in Punjab province had nothing for the people and had little powers.
Imran Khan said peace was a prerequisite for bringing investment to a country. He said that overseas Pakistanis were ready for investment but they felt insecure. “How could anyone think of investment in the present situation of the country?” he questioned.
Terming the PTI’s show of might in Swabi district a show of public confidence in the policies of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, he said the people noticed the change and were turning to his party’s rallies in droves. He challenged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to organise a big public rally like the one he held in Swabi district.
Imran Khan said the health and education sectors topped the PTI’s agenda and the government was bringing drastic reforms in the two sectors to provide improved health and education facilities to the people.
Briefing the PTI chief about the tree plantation campaign, Commissioner of Bannu Division Kamran Zeb said the Forest Department Bannu had planned to plant more than 11.8 million saplings this year.
He said that fast growing and multipurpose trees were being planted in the division. “We have selected barren land, roadsides, land being eroded and waterlogged lands for the plantation,” he added.
On the occasion, Imran Khan set free three precious falcons seized by the Wildlife Department from smugglers.