Fast vanishing tree clusters in Multan

MULTAN: The clusters of mango trees along the Bosan Road have disappeared in the past years, and residential colonies have been established there with the connivance of bureaucracy, which passes the site plans and maps of such schemes.

The majority of mega real estate schemes are being established without submitting the Environmental Impact Assessment reports, according to sources privy to the developments.

The Lahore High Court Multan bench recently took serious note of the vanishing trees and orchards, in the light of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed’s firm commitment against expansion of the real estate at the cost of trees and orchards.

The mango growers say the real estate tycoons have eaten up more than 4,000 acres of mango orchards across Bosan Road, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Matti Tal, Punjkoha, Shakk-e-Madina, Qadirpur Raan and a numbers of villages.

The real estate groups started purchasing orchard lands at nominal rates few years back for establishing mega residential colonies when the real estate was at its boom. Then the city areas started converting into barren lands due to the flyover frenzy of the previous government and the ambitious metro project by the incumbent one. Before these developments, one used to see trees lining up the roadside. The Bosan Road, a major north-side artery bisecting the city, used to be a boulevard before the Metro was built on top of it. Now even a mild breeze gives a dust bath to the city due to absence of vegetation and trees. Any significant new plantation initiatives are entirely missing.

The situation is no better in rural areas where motorway and other road projects are currently under way. The road project linking the Multan-Sukkur Motorway to the Multan Dera Ghazi Khan highway has ripped through prime mango orchards. The old Multan-Shujabad Road is being broadened in the name of a late political grandee from Shujabad whose scions are presently thick with the ruling party. There is a three-kilometre stretch on the road that used to be completely roofed with a canopy of majestic old shisham and pipal trees. Driving beneath that dense green cover would make you forget for a while that you were travelling through water-starved, sun-burnt countryside. Without a thought spared to the ages it takes for Shisham or Pipal to attain full maturity, the entire stretch of these grand old trees was chopped down to make room for still more gravel, asphalt and tarmac. Compound the above with thousands of acres of orchards lost to private housing projects and the picture gets even bleaker.

The News talked to a number of old peasants across Bosan Road areas and they questioned about the public works being done at the cost of greenery. The private sector development is even more callous towards the environment at the cost of profit. They urged the government develop rules and regulations for public works, which should not be done at the cost of greenery.

Mango growers said that erratic weather patterns, worsening temperature extremes, abrupt harvest-destroying dust-storms, and the catastrophic role of deforestation in the flood devastation of 2010, should serve to awaken both society and the government to the environmental issues.

The LHC Multan Bench has taken serious notices of vanishing orchards and trees in the district. LHC Multan bench senior judge Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed held the first meeting in this connection recently. The LHC Multan bench invited the district and divisional administration and judges to discuss growing challenges of deforestation.

LHC Multan bench senior judge Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed said that developing preventive strategy against cutting of mango orchards and lush-green trees was crucial according to the advice of chief justice of Pakistan. He directed the district and devisal administration for improvement of parks, massive plantation and restoration of streetlights.

Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed directed the administration to ensure plantation of thick plants and trees in Shah Shams Park and taking action on the media reports about the poor plight of parks. All parks should be upgraded accordingly as the CJP would pay visit to these sites in his next tour of Multan.

The LHC Multan bench judges were present in the meeting including Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem, Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir, Justice Muhammad Waheed Khan, Justice Rasal Hassan Syed, Justice Sadiq Mehmood Khurram, Multan Commissioner Shanul Haq, Deputy Commissioner Amir Khatak, City Police Officer Zubair Dreshak, Parks and Horticulture Authority Director General Muhammad Afzal Nasir and heads of different departments.