Murad orders officials to reclaim encroached forest land

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the Sindh Forest Department to start an operation to reclaim forest land from illegal occupants and to start afforestation efforts on the vacated land.

He issued these directives while talking to forest secretary Asif Hyder Shah, chief conservator Aijaz Nizamani and other department officials who were attending the inaugural ceremony of the Spring Tree Plantation Campaign 2018, under which the chief minister planted a palm tree at the Chief Minister House on Friday.

The campaign has simultaneously been started in all 29 districts of the province with a target of planting over half-a-million saplings on the inaugural day (yesterday). The campaign aims at planting mainly local tree species and saplings at public and community places, such as educational institution, bus stops and roadsides.

The Sindh Education Foundation-run schools will also be involved in the campaign all over the province. Forest Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, while briefing the chief minister, said the Karachi civil Division had been a target of planting 10,375,000 saplings and only today 165,000 had been planted.

“The Hyderabad civil division has a target of 3,500,000 plants and today 100,000 are being planted. The Mirpurkhas Civil Division has a target of 900,000 plants against which 15,000 are being planted today.”

He said 1,750,000 saplings would be planted in the Shaeed Benazirabad civil division where 55,000 were being planted on the inaugural day. “The Larkana civil division has a target of 1,875,000 saplings and today 85,000 are being planted. In the Sukkur civil division, as many as 1,600,000 saplings would be planted with 80,000 saplings are being planted today.”

During the year 2018, he said 20,000,000 trees would be planted. “On the inaugural day of the drive, 500,000 are being planted.” The chief Minister also emphasised the need to protect trees and forests in all ecological regions of Sindh, ranging from the coastal mangrove ecosystem to the riverine forests and sustainable use of land resources in barrage areas of the province.

The CM appreciated the forest department’s mangrove-planting drive spanning over the last two decades and directed the department to come up with a dynamic strategy for the forest rehabilitation in riverine and irrigated plantation areas of the province.

Shah directed the chief conservator of forests to spearhead the anti-encroachment campaign on forestlands and ensure plantation on vacated lands in order to prevent the recurrence of encroachment on the retrieved area.