'Afforestation imperative to protect environment'

Government would file criminal case against the people involved in deforestation and give them exemplary punishment, said Fatima Atif Malhi, Chairperson, Chief Minister's task force on environment here on Friday.
"Timber mafia has caused lot of damages to ecological system of country by cutting trees recklessly and these damages are hard to compensate", she said while addressing a high level meeting at DCO's office. City District Nazim Raja Javed Ikhlas, District Co-ordination Officer Hamid Ali and other high officials of district government also attended the meeting.
Fatima Malhi said that afforestation was imperative to protect the environment of the planet and to save the human and animal life from environmental disaster. "Government would select model roads and plant trees saplings on both sides to provide shade and save the roads from land erosion", she added.
She directed the City District Government (CDG) to make sure the immediate removal of building material and garbage from roadsides and make sure the plantation of trees. "The sanitation system on union council level should be maintained and Nazims of the outstanding union councils should be given prizes", she added.
She also stressed the need of streamlining the system of solid waste management saying that garbage is causing huge loss to environment.
City District Nazim Javed Ikhlas told the meeting that CDG would plant about 1 million saplings during monsoon plantation drive and provide about 160,000 sapling to people free of cost. Government, he said would provide 25,000 saplings each to health and education departments on nominal price of Rs 2 per sapling.
He further said that private farmers would be provided 100,000 sapling on nominal price to attract them towards the afforestation process. He said that education department was directed to plant more saplings in institutions and schools and colleges with high number of trees would be given prizes.
Meeting was told that sanitation staff of Rawalpindi was dumping more than 650 ton solid waste daily in the dumping site. Murree Road and other big roads are being cleaned with mechanical sweepers.