ISLAMABAD: The Standing Committee on Climate Change on Friday sought a complete case study on Monal and other restaurants damaging the environment from the Ministry of Climate Change.

The committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of Nuzhat Pathan, MNA, in which, the committee asked the climate change minister to prepare a complete case study on Monal and other restaurants on climate change issues and also sought their suggestion/proposals to the Committee in the next meeting.

The chairman committee expressed her displeasure over the functioning of the restaurants, hotels, and resorts operating within the limits of the national park including the Monal Restaurant and others.

Nuzhat said that the ministry should present a case study on the Monal and management of the national park to guide legislation to control damage to ecology due to anthropogenic activities and direct dumping of untreated liquid and solid waste into the national park.

She also directed to call Founder Clifton Urban Forest Masood Lohar and the provincial forest secretaries to brief the forum on forest protection and plantation efforts being implemented across the country in the next meeting.

The Monal restaurant was opposed clearly by the ministry due to its location within the national park, said MoCC Secretary Asif Hyder Shah. However, they were not complying with the environmental laws as their dumping of waste, increased human and car mobility was damaging the biodiversity.

The committee also summoned chief secretaries of all the provinces to brief the Committee about their contribution in the Green Pakistan Programme in the next meeting.

The committee expressed concerns over site selection for the plantation of trees, while discussing the agenda item regarding Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Program (TBTTP).

The chairman directed the ministry to provide a detailed report on the criteria of choosing 17,000 sites where the plantation was made in the next meeting.

Secretary Ministry of Climate Change gave a comprehensive briefing on the performance of TBTTP. He informed the committee that the title of the programme has been revised from TBTTP to Green Pakistan Program.

It was informed that initially the plantation target was 100 million but later it was increased upto 10 billion. Total program cost was Rs125.184 billion sharing 50 per cent cost each with federal and provinces.

He apprised that the purpose of the program was to enhance the forest cover area in the country and revival of wildlife resources.

IG (Forests), Ministry of Climate Change briefed the committee that 607.27 trees were distributed among the general public/institutions. The committee took serious notice upon the statement and ask to clarify the distribution process. The committee inquired about the present status of the planted trees, especially in the light of recent flood across the country.

The Committee also decided to invite Forestry Departments of all the provinces in the next meeting to apprise the Committee about the rapidly decreasing forest area.

The Committee decided to defer all the pending legislative business referred to the Standing Committee for consideration and report.

The meeting was attended by MNAs; Shaista Pervaiz, Musarrat Asif Khawaja, Shakila Luqman, Romina Khurshid Alam, Shahida Rehmani, and Sabir Hussain Qaim Khani. Senior officers of the Ministry of Climate Change and its attached departments/organisations also attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022