MQM-P launches drive to plant 30 million saplings

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan has announced the start of a “one-person, one-tree” campaign in the city to overcome the drastic effects of climate change due to which heat waves have become rampant.

Addressing a press conference at the MQM-P headquarters on Monday, party convener and federal minister for information technology Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that the world faced the challenge of global warming so itwas the responsibility of every citizen to plant at least one sapling to save the environment.

He said that fortunately planting trees had become a national policy, and hoped that the MQM-P would use its manpower to work on the campaign. He added that besides party workers, students and NGOs would also be made part of the project.

Setting a target of at least 30 million trees in the city, he said that the district municipal corporations of four districts would be taken onboard and the party would also contribute its resources to the project across the province.

“Karachi has provided opportunities to all of Pakistan and it is necessary that the city be made environmentally safe to make the country stronger and sustainable,” he said, adding that the project was part of the prime minister’s campaign.

Karachi mayor Waseem Akhtar said that that garbage disposal in the metropolis was also an issue and to overcome this challenge the Karachi Municipal Corporation was investing all available resources. He asked the citizens to be part of the campaign.

District Central

At least 10,000 saplings will be planted in District Central within three days and by December this year this number will go to a hundred thousand.This was stated by DMC Central Rehan Hashmi while he was talking to media at his office on Monday.

He said: “We will ask the community to join this tree plantation campaign which has been announced as ‘Own Karachi, Green Karachi’.” He said all elected members of the MQM-P would join the effort and go to schools with the objective of encouraging schoolchildren to join the campaign.