PESHAWAR: Secretary Environment Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nazar Hussain Shah has rejected the allegations of corruption in the ‘Billion Tree Tsunami Project’ and said that some government officials were levelling baseless allegations to foil the project.
Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, he alleged that the former director anti-corruption had started levelling allegations against the project after the Forest Department asked him to vacate the house, which he had illegally occupied.
He said that he was not alone to have the allotment of his house cancelled, but 16 more such houses were vacated from illegal occupants. Nazar Hussain Shah said that contracts were given to the brother of Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan and relatives of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak after fulfilment of the procedure. He said that they were supposed to plant one billion trees within three and a half years and during the first year, no one was ready to grow trees, which is why more contracts were given to those who provided land.
He was of the opinion that owing to the heavy cost on saplings’ productions, most of the plants were grown in the northern districts. He said that it cost Rs44 to grow a plant in the southern district, while in the northern and central districts like Charsadda, Mardan, Hazara, Swabi and Malakand division, the cost per plant was Rs6.
He said the project was being implemented transparently. “Wherever any irregularity has been made, the department itself informed the anti-corruption establishment of it,” he added. He added that earlier they handed over cases of illegal forest cutting in Upper Dir and Hazara division to the anti-corruption authorities, leading to dismissal of several employees of the department.
He vowed to make every effort for the success of the tsunami tree plantation project. He said that the survival rate at the plantation areas was 95 percent, which he termed a success. He said the target for the current year has been achieved. He said that planting one billion trees in the province within three years would cost approximately Rs22 billion.